Brink
by OddShot505
Summary: When a new threat looms over humans, gems, and robots, they have no choice but to cooperate with each other. Can Homeworld put it's grudge aside long enough to work with the crystal gems and a new group of aliens? Or will Unicron eradicate all life as we know it? (Elements of the G1 Cartoon, 86 Movie, Prime, and the first two Cybertron Games)
1. Prologue

We live in a universe that is infinitely expanding. From the farthest reaches of space, life of all shapes and forms have been able to gain a foothold in the ever-growing realm of disorganization. Be it through complete luck or stubbornness to survive, life has found a way on many different planets.

The planet Earth is one such place. Millions upon millions of years of hardship from both the universe and otherworldly beings have put this planet to the test, and yet it remains as one of the beacons of hope for any life forms in the galaxy. For with everything that Earth has been through, it is a wonder how it can possibly still survive.

In previous years, the Earth and its kind were visited by another group of sentient beings. Ones that far surpassed any of its life forms in both technology and intelligence. A life form that never grew old or died. These beings referred to themselves as 'gems'.

Earth was originally intended to be their colony in their ever-expanding empire. A new place where they could continue to grow their kind and make it a place where they could thrive. Yet through those years of trying to make it what they wanted, not everyone was alright with the things being done to so many worlds.

A great civil war broke out between two factions of the gems. One side holding loyalty to the ways that they always knew, and the other pledging themselves to a new leader that wanted them to be free and choose what it was they did with their lives. For you see, the battle was for far more than just the one planet. It was also for a new balance of power.

While that conflicted lasted a long time, it was eventually ended with the loyalists leaving the planet and rendering the surface toxic to their kind. With the end of the war, organic life reclaimed its place as the dominant of the Earth, leaving behind only a few of those rebel gems.

While that war had an end, we must not forget that there are far more creatures in the universe then any would dare think of, and not all conflicts come to an end so quickly.

Far off in a vastly different stretch of the cosmos there was another war being waged. Another civil war, but this one seemed to be without end. For millions of years, the planet of Cybertron has been home to a long, brutal war between its inhabitants. The creatures of this world were vastly different than that of gems or humans. These beings were large, sentient, autonomous robots.

On one side of this never-ending war was the Autobots, the victors of a previous war that led to them ruling over Cybertron for a time. Ones that sought to keep all together and to allow for a peaceful existence with each other. On the other end, there were the Decepticons. A ruthless faction that sought nothing but power and complete domination over all of the planet's inhabitants.

The war has torn the planet apart, leaving almost nothing left to fight for. That is until a great event that had changed the course of the future for not only the Autobots and Decepticons but for the entirety of Cybertron as a whole. So great is this danger, that it has not only brought the war to a standstill but also forced the inhabitants of the planet to unite, lest they both be destroyed.

While these three species have never met all at once, this threat is something that affects every being that exists. Something so much large than any of them combined. Something that is nearly as old as time itself.

The universe is a strange and open place, filled with many things that most of us could never imagine. There are things out there that many wished they never found out about. What is this looming threat that brought a war to a halt? What could be so massive that it threatens the very balance of all life? What is this menace that could go unnoticed for so long, but now appear to be the demise of anything in it's path?

Only one thing is certain: No one is safe while it still lurks out there.

* * *

In the far-off edges of gem controlled space, there was a small colony on small, remote planet. Like many of the other worlds that gem kind controlled, this planet was used to create more of their kind, but it was also a launching point for many operations to further advance their presence.

On the surface, the planet is alive with activity. Gems going about their duties as they usually do. Be it helping with the manufacturing of more gems, or simply being in their place of duty as guards. Whatever it may be, each gem had a purpose, and they were fulfilling it. Everything was as it should be.

Until an early warning alarm sounded in the orbital control station.

Inside of the station, three gems were suddenly jolted into surprise, causing them to look out the window of their post to see what was causing the alarm to sound. What they saw was something that none of their eyes had ever beheld.

At first glance, it looked almost like a giant planet that was heading directly towards them but, upon looking more carefully at it, one could see that there were several distinct differences to it. The first one being the giant ring that was formed around, looking like a massive string of smaller planets and other masses. Yet the most prominent feature to anyone looking at it was the giant hole in the center of it. Almost making it look like some sort of eye or mouth. Around this opening were two very large pincer-like appendages. It was simply alien in all ways.

"What in the name of the Diamonds is that?" one of the quartz asked.

"Who cares? It's about to be in a million pieces." a Peridot said, hitting a button on the control panel in front of her.

With the press of that button, several towers on the planet began to spring to life, revealing themselves as laser defense towers. They all turned toward the incoming mass, firing shortly after they were all locked in.

Sure that the planetary defense systems would destroy whatever it was that was approaching them, the gems simply looked onward confidently. There had never been anything out there had matched their technology, and this thing would surely be no different. Or, so they thought.

The lasers made contact with the incoming object, but they appeared to do nothing at all to it. Floored by the fact that the first blast had done nothing, the gems ordered for the defense to keep firing, thinking that it would stop it from coming.

Yet no matter how much firepower they put to it, the incoming planet never slowed down. As it got closer, more of its details could be seen, now revealing that, whatever this thing was, was made of metal.

Knowing that they were out of options, the ones in the orbital station knew that they had to warn everyone on the planet of what was coming. Pressing another button on the console, they sounded an alarm on the surface, letting all gems know to evacuate at once.

When the strange metallic being got close enough, the opening that was so prominent on it began to glow, so how opening up even further. The giant pincers around the opening began to bear down into the planet's surface, seemingly starting to pull it into the opening.

"Get to the ships! It's our only chance!" One gem shouted, running for the nearest escape vessel. Not everyone was so lucky though. While many were making it to ships, even more were being forcibly pulled into the strange beings giant, gaping maw.

As it continued to seemingly devour the planet, many ships were unable to take off and fell victim to the same fate as those who didn't make it in time. In addition, those ships that did manage to take off were not safe once they were off the surface. Many more were pulled back by what felt like a gravitational pull, meeting the same fate as those still on the planet.

Inside the enormous mechanical beast, the devoured planet and everything on it were being pulverized, ground up and liquidated to seemingly feed this behemoth. To make everything it consumed into energy for itself.

And just like that, the planet was gone. Where once was a bustling and thriving community of gem kind, was now nothing but a large empty void left behind by something that no gem had any explanation for.

Far away from where the planet once was, there was one ship that managed to escape from the creatures pull. Looking back, the survivors knew they were lucky to have gotten away. But, more importantly, they needed to get back to the homeworld. The Diamonds needed to be informed of this.


	2. Chapter 1: Search for Energon

In far-off reaches of space, not too far from the Solar system, there was a lone vessel of unknown origins. It was no human vessel, and very few gem vessel still actually came to this system anymore. Even after recent events, there were still only a select few that had ever come back to this small stretch of the galaxy.

While it was not something either side was aware of, the same could be said about the crew of this rather oversized vessel. While it may not have been the first time that this group of aliens had been to the reaches of this galaxy, it was the first time they had been here under circumstances that were even close to cooperative.

"Soundwave, are you absolutely sure that these readings are still good? I mean, Shockwave must have gotten these millions of cycles ago." A large, white metallic being asked. The robot in question went by the name of Jazz and was one of the select few that were sent on this mission. In addition to him and the one he was speaking to, there were several others along for the ride.

Their mission was simple in theory but very difficult in execution. This small, ragtag team was sent to find more energy for their home planet. Or at the very least, find something that could be converted into what they needed. Energon was hard to find and even harder to manufacture from raw energy. The purer source they found, the easier it would be to convert.

Currently, they were hot on the trail of some old reports that were taken during the time of their war. It may have been an incredibly long time since the readings were last taken, but they were getting desperate at this point, and it was truly showing.

"Autobot concerns are unwarranted." Soundwave answered in his synthesized voice, "Readings indicate that from the volatile nature of the planet's surface, any life forms would be incapable of long-term survival. Even if there was stabilization of the atmosphere, the chances of any organism surviving, native or otherwise, is roughly 2.37 percent."

"2.39 percent, actually." Another bot answered, an accent in his voice. "Although I do believe Shockwave's reading to still hold some semblance of accuracy, we still must account for not only time but also the heavy chance for cataclysm in this part of the galaxy. While I do enjoy fellow intelligent company, Shockwave does have a tendency to not double check his work."

"Yeah, that's why he only has one arm now." another Autobot spoke up, this one slightly smaller and red, two horn adorning his head, "Are you saying that you actually like being around that mad scientist Perceptor?"

"Not as casual company, Cliffjumper." Perceptor told him, "More so because it is nice to have someone who can keep up with and understand all the things that I create and devise."

"You saying something about us there, Perceptor?" Jazz asked accusingly.

"Wouldn't surprise me. Most of you Autobots shine about as bright as a three-watt bulb." One of the other Decepticons chimed in. He was not alone, behind him were the four closest of his comrades.

"You're hardly one to be talking, Swindle." Cliffjumper interjected, "You're a con in every sense of the word. Weren't you the one that was trying to sell tainted energon without knowing what you had?"

"Yeah, but I'm not the one who was using it. That honor of stupidity goes to you and the rest of the Auto-trash." Swindle rebutted.

"Maybe, but, if memory serves, one of your Decepti-creep friends was kind enough to take it back to your boss." Jazz added, looking over at one of the larger members of the group. "Tell me Brawl, how'd Megatron react when he found out all that stuff was useless?"

"Unless you're looking to get deactivated, I suggest you keep your questions to yourself." Brawl answered, his tone showing clear anger, "This may be a joint op, but that doesn't mean that accidents don't happen."

"You know I'm surprised they don't just call you brawn," Cliffjumper added, "because you clearly have very little going on upstairs or anywhere else to be known for anything else."

"That's it!" Brawl shouted in fury, pushing Swindle out of the way to make an immediate b-line to Cliff Jumper. Not waiting for the hulking brute to come closer, Cliffjumper started to run towards him as well. Yet, just as the two got ready for a fight, they were stopped.

"Enough!" two voices shouted, coming from each side's respective leader as they got between them.

"Come on, Hot Rod." Cliffjumper said, "Let me just teach this creep a lesson. I promise that it will make him far more agreeable."

"Stand down, Cliff." Hot Rod ordered, "You know as well as I do that it will cause more issues then it will solve."

"That red scraplet is asking for it, Onslaught." Brawl fumed, "If he doesn't learn some manners, I may teach him some."

"We can't afford for you to start things with them." Onslaught told him, "We have a mission and Megatron is not going to be happy if there are any setbacks. This is not a time for the two of you to start the war back up."

Both Brawl and Cliffjumper were not at all happy with what their commanders said, but they were inclined to do as they were told. They had been put in charge and both sides knew that it was for a reason. Even if they themselves could not see why.

After briefly glaring at each other, the two turned away and went back to their own sides. Upon seeing this, the two commanders relaxed slightly but were quick to turn to each other so that they may talk about what just happened.

"If you expect this mission to go through without further issue, I suggest that you keep your Bots in check." Onslaught told the Autobot lieutenant.

"Noted." Hot Rod said abrasively, "but I suggest you do the same with your cons. We were both brought on this mission for a reason, and that was to ensure both our sides knew what was going on here. We don't need another incident."

"That's one of the few things that our kind can agree on." Onslaught told him, "So for now, let's get back down to business."

"Agreed." Hot Rod said, heading back to the front of the ship where Perceptor and Soundwave were. It had been a tense ride all the way, and the two factions were only cooperating due to the orders that had been given to them by their leaders. While neither one liked each other, both Optimus and Megatron knew that cooperation was necessary in order for all of this to be resolved.

But that didn't stop to two from constantly trying to get one over on the other. The entire crew of this mission could still remember the argument that was had before the task had even been decided.

" _Soundwave," Megatron said to his officer, "you will be the one heading this mission. If Shockwave's reports are still accurate, the amount of raw energy that we could find on this planet will be able to sustain us for quite some time. Get there, set up communications and then report to me your findings."_

" _As you command, Lord Megatron." the comms officer said._

" _Hold it right there, Megatron." the Autobot leader said, his voice low and commanding, "Do you honestly think that we will let you handle this mission yourself?"_

" _Really now, Optimus." the Decepticon leader said, "It would not be at all necessary for your Autobots to come along with this mission. It is simple recon, nothing. Do you honestly have so little trust in us that you think we cannot do this without issue?"_

" _Yes." Optimus answered plainly, "After what happened in the last mission, I insist that a team of our own accompanies you."_

 _The leaders of each faction simply glared at each other, a strong sense of hate being felt by anyone in the room. The two almost never agreed on anything, but they were also aware that compromises needed to be made in times such as this. So, it was Megatron to yield this time around._

" _Very well, Optimus. Send your own team if you please, but do not over encumber this mission with useless soldiers. Send only what you need." Megatron said, before turning back to Soundwave, "Soundwave, the Combaticons will accompany you on this mission. Hopefully, they will not be needed."_

" _Acknowledged," Soundwave said, turning to exit the room._

" _I do not take orders from you." Optimus commented, before turning to his own, "Hot Rod, I want you leading this mission."_

" _Really, Optimus?" the Bot asked, "I've never lead a mission before. Are you sure that I am ready for this."_

" _We don't always get the choice of when we must lead, but I think this will be a good start for you." Optimus told the young Lieutenant, "Take Jazz, Perceptor, and Cliffjumper. Ensure that the Decepticons don't get up to anything and, if there is any raw energy there, report back once the communications have been established."_

" _I won't fail you." Hot rod said, bowing his head slightly._

" _I know you won't." Optimus encouraged him._

"Perceptor, what's the report?" Hot rod asked the scientist.

"Well, so far nothing new." Perceptor answered, glad that the conflict was resolved before it began, "As said by many others before, this information is very old, but I still feel that it holds merit. With the number of plausible accidents that happen in this remote system and the fact that it has its own asteroid belt, it's unlikely that anything would survive long enough to develop. That being said, once we get close enough, I'll be able to have a better reading of-"

Perceptor was interrupted when a small alarm noise could be heard from the head of the shuttle. Not wasting any time, he, Onslaught, Soundwave and Hot Rod made their way to the front to see what the fuss was. Once they got into the cockpit, Onslaught was quick to question his pilots.

"Blastoff, Vortex, what's going on?" the Combaticon leader asked.

"We're picking up strange readings from the planet that we're approaching." Blastoff said, "It's unlike anything that the old logs have said."

Bringing up a tracking map on the screen just above them, a map of the planet showed the where about of possible fuel sources. While there were a great deal of them dotted across the surface, the most prominent one was at the very center of the large rock. One that glowed like a mass of pure Energon.

"Perceptor, do have any idea what that is?" Hot Rod asked.

"I'm not sure at all." Perceptor answer, baffled by what he was seeing, "This does not show up at all in the old information logs. Shockwave's data has nothing on this."

"Energy signature is near identical to that of raw energon." Soundwave said.

"Raw? How could there possibly be a deposit of raw energon that wasn't noticed before?" Onslaught asked, "I know the reports are millions of cycles old, but we would have seen it even back then? Vortex, take us in closer. We need to see just what's changed on this supposedly uncharted world."

Without a word, the Decepticon began to move closer to the planet. And once they got close enough, they were all shocked to see that, not only was life still on the planet, but it seemed that it had also evolved enough to get to a point of civilization.

"So what were those chances again, Perceptor?" Jazz asked, him and the rest of the crew having just recently come up to the bridge to see what the fuss was.

"I guess the saying true, life does find a way." Cliff added.

"This is astonishing." Perceptor said in complete awe, "to think that a species could survive against nearly every odd thrown against it. I know it's possible, but this is truly something of a miracle."

"Irrelevant." Soundwave said, moving to one of the consoles, "Mission objective is the acquisition of energy. Subspecies must not hinder mission progress."

"This is kind of important, Soundwave." Jazz said, "We don't know anything about these creatures. For all we know, they could be more fragile than Cliff's glass gun."

Cliffjumper simply rolled his eyes, giving an angry grumble at the comment about his favorite weapon.

"Irrelevant." Soundwave repeated, "The mission takes priority, and the subspecies will not hinder us."

"This is completely relevant, Soundwave." Hot said, "We don't know anything about this planet or it's species. For all we know, they could already be acquiring the energy and using it for themselves. Now I know that you don't care about what happens to them, but wouldn't it be easier to try asking them first. Sure, we don't know if they speak our language, but it's always worth a shot."

"I hate to say it, but Hot Rod is right." Onslaught added, "The more conflict we avoid, the more energon we bring back. If these things are even the slightest bit intelligent, we might be able to work something out. Who knows, we could wind up taking it all without them even caring."

There was a long moment of silence in the cockpit as everyone stared at Soundwave. Of everyone in this group, he was the one to the most affirmative action. He never did anything without considering all factors, and his loyalty to Megatron was something that no one else could match. So, when he made a decision, everyone knew there was no going back from there.

It took a long period of thought, but Soundwave eventually gave his answer.

"Squawktalk, eject." Soundwave commanded, a blue minicon flying out of his chest compartment. The con in question was one of the least liked among anyone who knew of him, as the bird-like robot seemed to never stop making noises.

"Operation; translation," Soundwave told Squawktalk. No sooner was it said that bird flew out of the room, heading for the back exit of the ship. Everyone was thankful for this, as none wanted to hear that thing go on in every language they knew.

"Alright, that's something we can take care of at least." Onslaught said, glad to have done the smart thing. "Still, I don't think that we should stick with just one plan. If that doesn't work out, we need to find a place to start this harvesting."

"Agreed." Hot Rod said, before turning to Perceptor, "Perceptor, what's your opinion on the best course of action?"

"Well, based on everything that I am seeing so far," Perceptor said, turning to work with one of the consoles, "with this mass build up of energy near the core of the planet, it is not unlikely that there may be several points on the surface where it can escape. Now, where there are several places that have large build up, I suggest we go to this one."

Perceptor pointed to the map. The others all looked to what he was pointing to, seeing that there was a large energy spike on what looked like some sort peninsula of land.


	3. Chapter 2: First Encounter

**Chapter 2: First Encounters**

For the citizens of Beach City, out of the ordinary occurrences were something that happened so often that they were almost on the level of being mundane. They had been through everything from incoming invasions all the way to being completely destroyed by incoming masses from space.

So, when a strange looking metal bird came flying into their town, it was not that big of a deal to most of them. Yes, it certainly caused many to look up and acknowledge the creature, especially with it spouting off strange gibberish while it flew, but there was almost nothing else to it after that. Everyone simply went on with on with their business as if nothing ever happened.

To say that they were desensitized was something of an understatement.

It didn't take Squawktalk long before he had enough information to accurately calculate the words and language of this planet. It was what the Minicon was best at, and he always worked efficiently. Yet his constant noise was one of the main reasons that Soundwave never took him out. The more important one was the fact that they rarely if ever needed to learn new languages.

Once everything was done, Squawktalk immediately started making his way back to the shuttle, spouting off new phrases that he heard. While it took him a bit of time to get back, there weren't that many who were anticipating his arrival. Whether it was the cons or the bots, neither side wanted to hear that unending talking.

When the minicon got back to his master, Soundwave was quick to start with the upload of the language to the ship's main console. As it was all being uploaded, Perceptor looked over everything that was being shown on screen.

"This is very strange," Perceptor said, looking at the images that had been taken by Soundwave's microbot. "The translations are in without issue, but there is something rather disconcerting about the beings I'm seeing here. From Shockwave's old reports, the beings that used to inhabit this planet were far larger than this."

"Well we've already had two things happen that contradict old reports, why not keep adding to the pile?" Cliffjumper said, "Really, he thought that nothing would change in all that time? Maybe Shockwave doesn't think as logically as he wants everyone to think."

"The dominant species of this planet is of little to no concern." Soundwave spoke up, "Establishment of long range communication is essential in order to receive further guidance."

"Soundwave's got a point." Jazz said, "Whatever species it is that has this planet now isn't really that important. While it's good that we at least know how these things communicate, it would be best if keep our distance. You know how Optimus is with involving species that don't need to know about us."

"While our reasons may be different, I do agree that we should keep a low profile." Onslaught said, "Comms are what's important right now, but we need to check out these points to check for a sign of this new energy first. Once that's confirmed or proven to be nothing, then we call back to Cybertron."

"Well then, let's get down to it." Hot Rod said, "After everyone gets uploaded with Soundwave's data, we'll divide up into two teams and hit each point separately. Cliff, Jazz and myself will hit the point right here on this peninsula while you and-"

"Hold on there. Since when do you give us orders?" Swindle inquired.

"I'll handle this, Swindle." Onslaught said, cutting his teammate off, "Last I checked, we both took orders from our own. So excuse me when I ask, but what gives you the authority to start passing out orders to us?"

"It's simply based off of what's around each of these points." Hot Rod said, "While the first one is larger than the other, it's also right next to a built-up area. No offense, but you and your cons aren't exactly known for subtlety."

"I'll ignore the fact that you blatantly ignored the fact that we pulled one over on you bots on more than one occasion because there's a bigger point to be made." Onslaught said, irritation clear in his voice, "It hardly matters that it's a built-up area since we'll be keeping away from it to check out this reading. The big thing here is that our teams cooperate with each other. While you may not agree with my methods, you can't deny that I know how to lead my team. The only reason you're here is that you seem to be Prime's pet project."

"Woah, slow your roll there Onslaught." Jazz said before Hot Rod could get a word out, "I don't give two scraps what you may think of Optimus, but you have no right saying that. Hot Rod has proven himself capable on the battlefield. Especially when things get heated."

"Yet you and your red friend over there have had more experience than him separately. Little strange to me that he would be picking the least knowledgeable to front this mission. But again, that's beside the point." Onslaught said, "If even if we are going into a built-up area, that only increases the chances that we'll be seen. While I doubt these primitive creatures could really do any harm to us, it never hurts to take caution. If something does happen, he can handle it without issue. So, you'll take the second point and we'll take the first."

There was a short period of silence between the two factions as Onslaught waited for Hot Rod's reply. While Hot Rod was considering everything that Onslaught said, there was something in the back of his head that was nagging. Something about what was said about him being Optimus's pet project.

Like it or not, the young bot knew that Optimus had been trying to get him ready for being a leader, and many of the others had taken notice. While it shouldn't have bothered him, he knew it was causing some less than kind words. Not to mention, he wasn't sure if this was something that he wanted.

All the same, he knew he had to give an answer before he started to look suspicious.

"Fine. We'll check out the second point." Hot Rod said, finally speaking up, "but the second I hear about anything going sideways at your cause, don't think we won't be right there after you."

"I'm shaking my rivets off, kid." Brawl commented as he went to leave the room, "Come on Swindle, let's get headed to the drop bay."

The less bulky con followed close behind as the two pilots got up from their seats to follow Onslaught out. There were a few sideways glances from the bots, but they let the cons go and get ready for where they would be dropped at.

"Perceptor, you and Soundwave will have the ship while we're away." Hot Rod said, "Go in cloaked so that we don't cause a disturbance."

"All too simple." Perceptor said, "Head to the drop bay, and we'll be there in moments."

With that, the Autobots left to leave Perceptor and Soundwave to their work. With everything taken care of, this would hopefully just be a quick in and out recon mission.

* * *

The first stop was for the Combaticons. Bringing the ship into the planet's atmosphere, Perceptor was quick to turn on the cloaking system to avoid any detection by the anyone who may have been looking up at the time.

Approaching the area in question, the doors to the drop bay opened, showing Onslaught and his crew to be ready to jump at a moment's notice. With one shout of the word "Go!" the Decepticons all ran out the back of the ship and jumped down to the beach below.

Upon landing, the combaticons became immediately aware of how truly different this planet was from many of the other one that they had been to. Yes, they had been to planets that weren't metal on the surface, but this one was different in many ways.

"What do you suppose all of this liquid is?" Swindle asked to anyone.

"Whatever it is, I wouldn't touch it. It might cause you to rust." Blastoff said, "In any case, we have more important things to worry about."

"Right, let's find that energy deposit." Vortex said, scanning over the environment."According to Perceptors coordinates, it should be just beyond this hill."

Turning in the same direction, the Combaticons all saw exactly what it was that Vortex was talking about, and they were certainly surprised by what they saw. It looked like a large statue carved into the side of the mountain. One of a being that they had never before seen.

"What do you suppose that thing is? And what's up with the structure at the bottom?" Swindle asked.

"Who cares," Brawl said, "it looks like it's been abandoned for a long time. In any case, it's blocking our way to that energy."

"He's right, it doesn't matter. We just need to worry about getting to that reading sight." Onslaught said, "Get it out of the way."

* * *

Over the course of the past few weeks, things had been very quiet on the homefront for the Crystal Gems. Homeworld had not sent anything their way in a very long time. While that might be a good thing in most people's eyes, to Steven it was a sign that something was not right.

While the gems tried to tell him to not worry and simply go on with preparing for when there would be another attack, Steven was sure that something was going on. He knew that there had to be a reason for them not seeing any sign of a Homeworld ship or some kind of team coming in to check on things. Something just felt… _off_.

While the Gems didn't quite feel it themselves, they would allow for Steven to go and check on things as he saw fit while they did the same. With them checking some of the more high-risk areas, they sent him to the Kindergarten to check things. All though they had confidence in him, they still didn't like the idea of him going alone. So, Peridot was sent to accompany him… and she was not at all impressed with the reasoning.

"You know the only reason they sent us here is that they know nothing is here, right?" Peridot complained as the two kept walking.

"Hey, it can't hurt to look." Steven argued back, "I mean, you tried getting this place back online, didn't you?"

"That's because I thought there were no other options at the time." Peridot said, "I only wanted to get it up and running so that I might get a little help. Failing that, I might have been able to take you all out."

Steven sent her a wry look, not finding her humor all that funny. While she had definitely come a long way since their first meeting, she still needed a little work in some areas.

"Anyway, my point is that there would be no real reason for them to come here." Peridot began again, "They want this world destroyed, not use it for another growing ground. Honestly, what do any of you expect to find around here?"

No sooner had Peridot said that, that the two of them heard something overhead. Looking up, they didn't see anything at first, but as the sound got louder, they started to see something. It almost looked like the air around them shimmering.

As the noise moved further away, they heard the sound of a voice shouting out "Go, go, go!". Shortly after that, three large bodies could be seen falling from the sky where the noise had been coming from, and they were dropping down not too far ahead of them.

"Well, that's certainly _something_." Steven said to Peridot.

* * *

As the three Autobots jumped out of the ship, each made their way down to help soften the impact. Jazz had taken to using his energy grapple to swing his way down, while Cliffjumper was living up to his namesake. Meanwhile, Hot Rod had simply decided to slide his way down the cliff face, jumping at the last minute to avoid an impact with the ground.

"Geez, look at this place." Cliffjumper said from a high point of the canyon, "If there was any kind of energy anything around, it looks like someone else already picked it clean."

"Yeah, it looks like I made the wrong call." Hot Rod said, his tone slightly down.

"Hey kid, what's wrong?" Jazz said, landing beside him, "This is about Onslaught, isn't it? Come on, since when does a con know anything about us?"

"That may be true, Jazz." Hot Rod told him, "but it does make me think. Am I getting treated differently because Optimus keeps trying to force me to be a leader? I mean, don't even know if I want to be a leader."

"Hey, don't blow a gasket over it kid." Jazz assured him, "You know Prime doesn't do things without reason. If he see's something in you, then there's a reason he wanted you heading the mission. Sure, you got a ways to go, but that's why you're starting out slow. You never know, this might be what you're made for, or maybe it's something else. There's only one way to find out, and you're doing good so far."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. In any case, let's see if this was a complete loss first." Hot Rod said, trying to get away from the subject for the time being. Looking up, he tuned his shortwave communication for Cliffjumper "Cliff, are you sure there's nothing? Your optics aren't picking up anything?"

"Not even residue." Cliff said, scanning the area, before his sensors picked up a very paint reading, "Wait… I think I might have something on the other side of the canyon. It's small, but it's there. I don't think I'll be able to make it from this side. Jazz?"

"I gotcha pal." Jazz said, looking to where Cliffjumper was pointing. With one quick shot, his energy grapple came out and pulled him up to the wall of the ravine. Once there, he dug his hand to keep himself stable. Looking to the spot, he found that there was an odd shaped hole that was formed. It looked too well formed to be natural, but he had no idea what could have made this.

Reaching his other hand inside, he pulled out a mound of dirt that appeared to have nothing in it. Yet, after shaking the clump to see if there was more to it, he was surprised to see what looked like fragments of some sort of crystal.

"Hey guys, I think I found something!" Jazz said, looking outward to see something even more shocking, "Scratch that, I found two of something!"

Looking to see what Jazz was talking about, both Hot Rod and Cliffjumper looked in the same direction he had. Needless to say, they were left a little speechless when they saw what appeared to be a giant drill on the side of the cliff wall.

"I guess you were right Cliff. Someone was here before us." Hot Rod said, getting closer to the strange looking machine. "What do you think it is?"

"Only one way to find out," Cliffjumper said, running to the odd device before jumping from the edge of the ravine. He landed on top of it, causing it to dislodge from the wall and cause it to tumble down to the ground.

Both Jazz and Hot Rod immediately headed to the fallen device, hoping that Cliff hadn't gotten hurt from the very rash action. It took a minute for the dust to clear, but Cliffjumper eventually appeared from the cloud looking completely fine.

"Geez Cliff, what in Primus's name were thinking?" Jazz asked, not at all impressed with what Cliffjumper did.

"Got it down, didn't I?" Cliffjumper argued.

"This is hardly the time to be pulling stunts." Jazz said, "You could have gotten yourself scrapped if something went wrong."

"He's right Cliff." Hot Rod added, "Trust me, I know this is dull, but we need to-

" **Achoo!"**

Hot Rod was interrupted by a strange noise, and all of them stopped to see where it had come from. Hot Rod got his blaster out, thinking that there might be something of hostile intent coming in. He'd never heard a sound like that before, so there was no telling what it was.

"Come on out and show yourself!" Cliffjumper shouted, seeing movement not too far away from where they were.

Not too far from where the Autobots had landed, Steven and Peridot went to go investigate just what was going on. Naturally, the two of them had thought that it was something that Homeworld had sent. It was really the only thing that made sense their mind as to what it could be.

Imagine their surprise when they instead saw a group of giant, walking, talking robots.

While Peridot was both fascinated and terrified at seeing something like this, Steven was completely awestruck. He had seen a good deal of cartoons and comics about giant robots, but he never thought that he would actually see one right in front of him. It was almost like something out of a movie.

While Peridot had wanted to simply get out of there as fast as they could, Steven remained grounded and was determined to know just what was going on here. Who were these beings, and what did they want?

After getting a display of just what these things could do, things seemed to go sideways for a second when one of them brought down one of the drills. Although the robot was fine, the dust that was kicked up in the process went everywhere. Which, unfortunately, Steven and breathed in some, causing him to involuntarily let out a sneeze.

So now there they were, in a narrow canyon with giant robots pointing weapons at them. They had very options as to what to do, and Peridot was all in favor of simply waiting for them to grow bored and walk away. Steven, on the other hand, knew that it would get them nowhere. They were more likely to be found out than anything else, so it would be best to simply get it over and done within what he hoped could be a peaceful manner.

Coming out from behind the rocks the two were hiding behind (much to Peridots very visual disapproval), Steven showed himself to the giant robots, who immediately dropped their hostile stance.

"It looks like one of the inhabitants of this planet." Cliff whispered to the other two, "What should we do? I mean we're already found out, so hiding isn't an option anymore."

"Don't worry, I got this." Jazz whispered to them before slowly walking up to the very small creature that was before him. It was almost comical how stark the size difference was between the two, but Jazz wanted to make a good impression, so he avoided laughing. "Ahem, Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong."

Steven had stayed in place when one of the metallic beings approached him, not sure what he was going to do or say. While he wasn't sure what would happen, the words that the robot spoke were not something that he expected, and so he simply stared back with a confused look.

"What was that?" Hot Rod asked Cliffjumper.

"Universal greeting." Cliff answered, "Though, by the look on its face, I don't think that thing knows what it means."

While Peridot was not at all for trying to communicate with whatever these things were, she did keep a close eye on Steven. If anything happened to him, the gems would have her harvested for sure. While the giant beings didn't seem to act hostile to him, she knew well enough to be wary of strangers. Especially considering that these ones were literal aliens.

When one of them approached Steven and spoke, Peridot was nervous, but also intrigued to hear what was said. She had heard those words before, but not for an incredibly long time. It was in the gem archives of very long ago. It was a sort of old speak that hadn't been used for eons, but she remembered it.

Knowing that Steven was not going to know what it meant, she came out from behind the rocks and approached. She was noticed by the aliens, but that was not too much of an issue. She had to make sure that what she heard was right.

"Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong?" Peridot asked the robot in front of the two of them.

When another one of them appeared behind the rocks, Jazz was slightly surprised but didn't show it. From what it seemed, this one did know what he was saying.

"Bah-weep-graaaaagnah wheep nini bong." he repeated.

"Everything's fine Steven." Peridot said, smiling at the response she received, "They say they come in peace."

"How do you know?" Steven asked his green friend.

"Seems that she knows a little of the universal language." Jazz said to the two, "and it looks like your own isn't that hard to learn."

After Jazz had seemed to get the duo's trust, Cliff and Hot Rod approached them. Like Jazz, they really could not believe how small these creatures were. Yet, after visiting many planets before this, it should have been no surprise. Still, they didn't get a chance to interact with locals very much.

Inside of Steven's head were a plethora of questions. Everything from the practical to the down absurd. Sure, he knew about the gems and they were aliens, but this was something completely new. Better get started, as they probably had questions of their own.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Steven asked.


	4. Chapter 3: Combaticons Combine!

**Chapter 3: Combaticons Combine!**

Although the two parties had tried to keep things as abridged as possible, it was still a pretty lengthy explanation from both of them. While Steven was used to knowing about beings other than humans, he still had only ever met the gems in terms of otherworldly beings. To get the chance to meet a different species was truly something amazing, especially considering that they were nothing like he would have ever expected.

On the other side of the conversation, the Autobots were also intrigued to hear about a new species and it's lifestyle. Yes, they had seen many others during their time exploring the cosmos, but they were always instructed to leave them be. Rarely if ever did they actually get a chance to communicate with them.

Hot Rod especially was eager to learn as much as he could. Between him and Steven, the two were asking enough questions to write a book on the others species.

"So do all of you humans have different markings and colors like us?" Hot Rod asked Steven, "I mean you and your friend are different or is it just that way with your… genders I think you called it?"

"Hehe, not quite." Steven answered, "Peridot isn't a human, she's what's known as a gem. A completely different species."

"Wait a minute, are you saying that there are two different dominant species on this planet?" Cliffjumper asked.

"Well no, not really." Peridot answered, "It's a bit of a long story but I'll do my best to explain. Gem kind came here a long time ago and tried to establish this planet as our colony to help with making more of ourselves. For certain reasons, it was abandoned and humankind took over once more. You see, we procreate differently, hence this place you see before you. We are _grown_ in the ground and then we come out fully formed."

"Well, that isn't nearly as complicated as the way he explained how his species does it, and it does explain all these weird holes in the cliff walls." Jazz said, before remembering something, "Wait a minute, if your species comes out of the ground and this was one of your old producing areas, does this have anything to do with it?"

Jazz got down on one knee to show the two that he was still holding the clump in his hand. Most of it was dirt, but there were a few fragments of what looked like a crystal in there. Looking it over, the two immediately knew what it was.

"These are gem shards." Steven said, picking up one of the pieces, "This gem must not have made it. You see, gems usually form from these things, making their own bodies. If a gem gets shattered, then they can't come back."

"Man sounds like what happens when one of our sparks go out." Hot Rod said.

"Well, those things are the reason that we're here in the first place." Cliff said, "We came here looking for energy, and these things have a very similar energy signature to energon."

"Energon?" Peridot asked.

"It's our life's energy." Jazz said, "While it does have a form, it can also be refined from other energy sources. Like Cliff said, it's the reason that we're here. We were just looking to get more energy for our planet."

While that was definitely not the full story of things, Jazz wasn't about to tell these two the real reason behind them being here. The last thing they needed to know about was that they were at war with a deity of destruction and, if the other two had sense, they would keep their mouths shut about it. The last thing they needed to be doing was get a different world involved with their problems.

Though he didn't realize that it was also being done by their new friends as well.

"Well this isn't an energy source," Steven told them, "these are living things. Even if they have been reduced to shards, they still were once alive like us. Usually, when we find things like this, we try to honor them and give them a proper way to rest."

"Like this." Peridot said, gathering up the shards in her hands. With one quick motion of her hands, a green bubble formed around the shards. Then, with a small tap of her hand, the bubble was sent away almost instantaneously.

The Autobots all watched as Peridot showed them what they did, and were somewhat amazed by it. True, it fit with just about everything else that they were told about them, but it was still something to behold. It almost seemed mystical.

Yet all of this was still something incredibly important. The things that they thought were energy were actually living beings at one point, and may still be in some cases. They couldn't take these for their own use, as it would be the same as them using their dead as a source of fuel. Not to mention, any other energy source was already being used by the humans of this planet.

"Well, it looks like our readings were really off." Hot Rod said, "Not only were Shockwave's reports dated, but everything that we did find is something that we can't-" Hot Rod stopped himself mid-sentence, remembering something very important. "Wait, have you done this with a lot of these things?"

"Uh, yeah." Steven answered.

"Is there a place where you keep them all?" Hot Rod asked again.

"Yeah, why?" Steven inquired.

"And you said that there were more like you. Would that location be on a peninsula not too far from here and, if so, are they there?" Hot Rod finished.

"Okay, how do you know all of this?" Steven asked, getting weirded out by the specifics of the questions.

Jazz and Cliffjumper finally caught on with just what it was that Hot Rod was getting at, and both of their optics went wide.

"Oh no." they both said.

* * *

While Hot Rod and the Autobots had been having a relatively civil and informative conversation with their newfound acquaintances, the same could not be said about Onslaught and his Combaticons.

While the place that they were sent to did look like it had been unused for a long time, they failed to think about whether or not there would still be anyone or thing living in there, especially considering the condition of the house in comparison to the statue behind it.

That hardly mattered to them though. They needed to get comms set up and call back to Cybertron. This planet was either going to be something they could use, or simply another rock that could be left alone. Regardless of which, Soundwave was only concerned with getting his instructions, and the Autobots were likely wanting the same thing.

So, they got to work with trying to move the building out of the way. It was here that they found out that the house was not unoccupied.

Inside of the house, the gems were busying themselves to keep their minds off of Steven being out in the wild by himself. While that wasn't completely true that he was alone, they knew that Peridot was more likely to need to protect from Steven than her protect him. Yet, it was better than letting him go out there by himself.

Ever since the involvement of homeworld died down for the past few weeks, Steven had been expressing concern on how things didn't feel right. Yes, things were at peace for the time being and they were taking this as a brief respite before what would eventually happen. They were sure that something was going to happen soon, but all they could do in the meanwhile was prepare.

Yet that didn't seem to be enough for Steven. He felt that there was something greater going on. While Garnet had tried to assure him by saying that there were no visions of gems in future, it did little to ease the boy's mind. After what he had been through, he was understandably a little paranoid.

While the others didn't fully agree with him that things could be happening here on earth, they did allow for him to pull his little recon mission. They were all but certain that he would find nothing but, if it helped put him at a slight bit of ease, then why not.

It was fortunate that they stayed too because not long after he left, they heard noises outside of the house. Exiting the temple, the three heard loud thuds accompanied with the ground rumbling. There were never any earthquakes in Beach City, so something was clearly up. Could Steven have perhaps been right?

Heading outside to see what all of the commotion was, they came face to face with five very large bodies that appeared to be trying to destroy their home. While they were definitely like nothing they had ever seen before, it was clear that, whatever these things were, they were of hostile intent.

No words were exchanged by anyone before the gems started attacking the Decepticons, trying to keep the house from being destroyed. Caught off guard by their sudden appearance, Onslaught didn't get a chance do or say anything before he was hit in the face what looked like to him to be a very big fist.

That was all it took for the rest of the Combaticons to know that things were fully escalated. While they did have orders to leave indigenous life forms be, they also had a right to defend themselves when they were engaged. While none of them thought this was going to be an actual fight, no one took them off guard like that.

After Onslaught fell to the ground, Brawl was quick to react and swatted his smaller assailant away. Onslaught, known for being better with thinking than fighting, allowed for the heavy hitter of their squad to take over for him. While this was not at all an even match, Onslaught knew Brawl was always itching for a fight.

"There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity," Onslaught said to the smaller being, "and you have crossed it."

"Talk is cheap." Garnet said, getting up after being smacked aside, "Especially when you were the ones to start all of this, not even bothering to see if anyone was here."

"I agree." Brawl said, punching his fist into his hand, "but considering you threw the first punch, I say we continue and hammer out the details later."

With that, Brawl reared his fist back and went to throw a punch at the gem, only to be met with one of equal power from someone much smaller than him. There was a brief moment of confusion but he threw another punch, only to again have it be met by one from Garnet.

"Hmm, seems like he isn't as tough as he thinks." Pearl remarked on the situation.

"Yes, it seems that your mouth is nearly as big as that thing on your face." Swindle said, not taking kindly to what she said.

The moment that Pearl heard what the big robot said, he mouth immediately went agape. Too many times in the past had she gotten remarks about the size of her nose, and she had never once taken kindly to it. It was one thing to have Amethyst say something about it, but to hear it from a complete stranger, and one that was openly hostile towards them? Well, let's just say that she didn't need much more of a reason to begin her assault on him.

As the spear was pulled from her forehead, Pearl made a leap for Swindle. Although slightly caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the weapon, Swindle was quick to react and sidestepped to get out of the way. Pearl landed pretty gracefully on the ground and quickly turned to face their attacker once again, only to be immediately booted in the face and sent flying back.

Not wanting this to go on any longer than it needed to, Swindle brought his blaster out and took aim at the now disoriented Pearl, fully intent on ending it. However, before a blast could be fired, he felt something wrap around his arm and start pulling back to keep him from taking aim. Looking over, he saw the shortest of the trio had some sort of whip that she was using. Though what really surprised him was how she was able to keep him from moving.

"You know, for giant robots, you guys can move pretty quick." Amethyst commented, only for her whip to be cut by another of the robots.

"Thanks." Vortex said, showing his blade that he used to cut her whip, "and you're pretty strong for a midget."

"What'd you call me!?" Amethyst shouted, reaching to her gem to pull out two more whips.

Rolling up so that she could do a spin dash at the Decepticon, she had every intention of ripping him limb from limb. However, she soon found that there was nothing there for her to hit. Coming out of her ball form, Amethyst looked around for her opponent, only to look up after hearing a very peculiar sound from above.

At first, it looked like a helicopter, but there were some very big differences. The shape was completely off, and it didn't look like anyone could fit in that thing. She didn't have time to ponder over this though since the thing took off and turned back to start coming her way. Was that the same thing that she had been ready to attack?

She got her answer when the thing started firing at her. Quick to react, Amethyst brought her whips up and started to do a spin them like fans. Doing this was able to deflect the shots that were fired at her, but that wasn't the only thing that was sent her way. When his energy shots weren't working, Vortex was quick to switch to his missiles. Seeing them coming, Amethyst dropped her defense and got into another spin dash to get out of the way, narrowly avoiding the missiles.

Swindle, who had been transfixed on what was happening with Vortex, had completely forgotten that he was in a fight of his own. While he was distracted, Pearl was quick to get and attempt the same attack again, this time being far more successful, delivering a kick to Swindle's face.

"Always pay attention when you're in battle." Pearl remarked, spinning her spear as she watched the robot stumble backward.

"And never bring a spear to a gunfight." Swindle remarked after he regained himself, pulling out his blaster once more.

Pearl's eyes went wide for a moment, but she quickly got herself together and started moving, only just barely avoiding the shots. Thankfully, she was incredibly nimble and able to outmaneuver anything that Swindle shot at her.

While all this was happening, Garnet and Brawl were still exchanging blows. While the two were matching each other one for one, they did occasionally get a hit on the other. The entire time, Brawl was growing ever more furious about the fact that he was being so easily matched by someone not even half his size, while Garnet simple remained aloof.

"Do you think we should help them?" Blastoff asked Onslaught, the two of them watching the whole thing play out.

"Not yet." Onslaught said, "It seems these lifeforms pack more of a punch than I thought. I'm interested to see how far they can get."

* * *

"Oh, this is not good!" Steven exclaimed, pacing out nervousness, "and you say there's five of them?"

"Yeah, and they are nowhere near as agreeable as us." Cliffjumper answered.

"Then we need to get back there right now, come on!" Steven said, trying to lead them over to the teleporter pad, only to be stopped by Peridot.

"Steven wait. We don't even know if the teleporter will work with them." Peridot said, "and even if it did, they're too big to fit on it."

"Well, I think I might have a way." Hot Rod said, putting his finger to the side of his head, "Perceptor we need an immediate pickup, we have an emergency… Perceptor?... Perceptor can you hear me?!... Scrap, he's not answering."

"Then it looks like we're gonna have to get there the old fashion way." Jazz said, "I still got the coordinates for where the Combaticons were dropped. It's a ways, but we can get there. You two, grab them and let's get headed."

Both Cliffjumper and Hot Rod nodded, bending down to carefully pick them. Steven was being carried by Hot Rod while Peridot went with Cliffjumper. While both of them had been in hands his big before, it strange having it be done by robots.

"Let's go, there's no time to lose." Hot Rod said, immediately sprinting out of the canyon with the other three in tow. Hopefully, they could get there before things got too bad.

* * *

All three of the gems were sent flying back from their assailants. While they were able to put a good fight, the Decepticons were just something that they were not used to fighting. They were able to hit them, but it never seemed like they were actually doing any damage. Not mention, with that strange ability to change, they were also outmaneuvered.

After watching the entire battle play out, Onslaught knew that the outcome was never in doubt. Not only were these creatures nowhere near as big as them, but their power could only match theirs for so long. Yes, they put up a decent fight, but there was no way they could keep it up for long.

"Well, that was certainly interesting," Onslaught said to his crew, "but we can't keep playing with the locals. Let's finish this up, we got work to do."

"On it." Brawl said, getting his club out and making his way over to the three.

The crystal gems managed to get themselves up and were met with the sight of their opponents approaching them. While things did look bleak for them, they knew that there was still one thing that they could do. One last chance to keep these five from taking them down.

"Gems, let's show them what we're really made of." Garnet said, the other two nodding at her.

Getting up, the three took their positions and began to dance. Upon seeing this, Brawl, Swindle and Vortex all stopped, confused as to what it was these three were doing. While they had seen strange customs before, this was entirely different. Yet, before any questions could be asked, everything was answered when the three came together.

In a flash of light, the Crystal Gems vanished, leaving behind something much bigger in its wake. The being before the combaticons was twice their size and had six arms. It looked down at them, giving the faintest of smirks to them as the three stared upward at her.

"Something wrong?" Alexandrite asked, before opening her second mouth to let out a blast of fire.

Immediately, the three combaticons transformed to get out of the way. While they were not at all certain about what just happened, they knew that the tables had just been turned.

"Combiners?" Onslaught thought out loud.

"Now do we intervene?" Blastoff asked.

"Yes." Onslaught answered, getting his blaster out, "Blastoff and Vortex, take to the sky and keep it busy. Brawl and Swindle, you're with me. Let's take this thing down."

The combaticons said nothing and simply did as they were told. Vortex and Blastoff took to their vehicle forms and went to try and give the ones on the ground a bit of help by distracting whatever it was they now had to face.

Alexandrite watched as the two took to the air. They went out a ways before returning to try and hit her with both rockets and energy shots. A whip was quickly brought out, and the same tactic that Amethyst had employed earlier was used, deflecting the shots. However, once the two got close enough, a large ball appeared on the end of the whip.

Using the momentum of the swinging, Alexandrite swung the flail and hit both of the airborne Decepticons in on blow, sending them flying into the cliff side. With those two dealt with, Alexandrite could now take care of the ones that were left on the ground. Looking down, she saw the three now in their alternate forms, seeming to get in place for something.

Whatever it was, they wouldn't get a chance to do it. Bringing out a giant hammer, she swung and hit Brawl, send him careening into the same wall that Blastoff and Vortex hit. Onslaught and Swindle, knowing that things were going downhill fast, tried to get away from the giant, but unsuccessful and quickly grabbed by her.

"Seems the tables have turned," she said to the two, tossing them into the same wall to join their comrades. "Still feel like this is a good idea?"

Onslaught was the first to raise himself up, placing his hand on his head from the disorientation. Looking over at their foe, he started to think about the futility of trying to take this thing on in their current forms. If they were going to beat whatever this thing was, they were going to have to resort to their ultimate tactic.

"We need to take control of this situation." Onslaught said, getting up from the ground, "Combaticons, combine into Bruticus!"

Again, no words came from the Combaticons and simply got to work with their practiced formation. Blastoff and Vortex took to the sky once again, while Brawl and Swindle took their vehicle forms to get into the right place. Behind them, Onslaught walked forward with an angered stance. Things were about to get far more heated than he ever thought they would.

When Alexandrite heard the command be given, there was a momentary surprise. Seeing the two airborne robots take flight once more, she thought that they were trying to distract her, yet was proven wrong when she saw what the other three were up to.

Swindle and Brawl came to the front, changing form once more to take up the bottom half of the transformation and becoming the legs. With that taken care of, Onslaught jumped up, taking another new form and landing on top of the two, becoming the body and head. Then, coming in from the skies, Vortex and Blastoff flew in and became the arms of the giant.

With the combination complete, the behemoth slammed his fist into the ground, cause a minor quake to resonate through the earth.

"Bruticus online. Ready for action!" he shouted, his tone sounded much simpler and vicious.

Alexandrite could hardly believe what she was seeing. So these creatures could fuse together just like them? It may not be the exact same thing, but it more than likely meant that this thing just as, if not more powerful than she was.

Now the playing field was completely even. One against one, both of equal size and strength.

* * *

Meanwhile, Steven and the rest were busy trying to make their way to Beach City. It was far slower going than using the teleporter, but they didn't have much of a choice. They would need their new friends to help sort this out, but they also needed to move quickly before anything major happened.

At the moment, they were not too far from an old gas station off of a pretty empty highway. All the while, the Autobots had been trying to contact the ship, but to avail. Perceptor and Soundwave must have been on the other side of the planet for this to be happening.

"Alright hold on." Peridot said from Cliffjumper's hands, getting everyone to stop, "This is taking way too long. If we keep going at this pace, there's likely to be nothing left by the time we get there."

"She's right." Cliff said, "We could transform. That would help pick up the pace."

"Transform?" Steven asked, only to be ignored.

"Cliff, we can't. Even if you excuse the fact that our alternate forms would cause unwanted attention, we wouldn't have anywhere to keep these two." Jazz said.

Hot Rod was fully inclined to agree with Jazz. Even if it would be faster, they couldn't really take Steven and Peridot with them. Not unless they had an iron grip and could hold to them while they sped along. Yet still, they needed to get there quick. There had to be a way.

Looking over at the gas station that they were close to, Hot Rod noticed that there were a couple of vehicles that were parked there, and he got an idea.

"Hey Jazz," Hot Rod said, getting everyone's attention, "what if we were to go in disguise?"

Looking over to what it was that Hot Rod was talking about, Jazz and Cliffjumper already knew what he was talking about, and they both gave knowing smiles. Meanwhile, Steven and Peridot were both left wondering what it was they were talking about.

"What are you guys talking about?" Steven asked as he and Peridot were put down.

"You'll find out in a second, Steven." Hot Rod said, he and the other Autobots approaching the vehicles.

Peridot and Steven looked at each other, wonder what the aliens could be doing. Looking back, they saw the three going up to a different vehicle, and then do some sort of scanning with their eyes. They were about to ask but got their answer when all three of them transformed into the cars that they scanned.

"Woah." was all Steven could muster. It was one thing to see giant robots, but to see giant robots that could turn into vehicles? It was like everything his six-year-old self could have ever wanted.

"Hop in Steven." Hot Rod said, opening his doors, "We have a long way to go and a short time to get there."

"You too Peridot." Cliffjumper said, doing the same.

While both of them were still in awe over what they had just seen, they were both aware that time was not on their side. Steven hopped in Hot Rod and Peridot did the same with Cliffjumper. Once in, the doors closed by themselves.

"Autobots, roll out." Hot Rod said, revving his engine before pulling onto the road with the other two close behind.

"What, you stealing Prime's line's now?" Jazz joked as the three sped down the road.

"Just seemed fitting." Hot Rod said.

Although their situation was indeed dire, Steven could hardly believe what was happening. He was currently sitting in a car that was able to transform into a robot. If he wasn't so hung up on what might be happening back home, he might be enjoying himself more. Meanwhile, Peridot was not enjoying the sudden accelerations as they sped down the road.

"Uh, Hot Rod." Steven said, "I know we're in a hurry, but I don't think we should be going this fast. We could get stopped."

"Sorry Steven." Hot Rod said, "There's no time to lose. I'll take care of everything from here, so just sit back and relax. Here, why not listen to this frequency I'm picking up."

The dials of the radio suddenly started turning on their own, the radio turning on to some very loud rock music.

 _Sometimes when your hopes have all but shattered_

 _And there's nowhere to turn_

 _You wonder how you keep going_

 _Think of all the things that really mattered_

 _And the chances you've earned_

 _The fire in your heart is growing!_

As the music kept playing, Steven couldn't help but wondered what was waiting for them in Beach City. If anything, he really hoped that the gems would take the civil route. Even if the ones they met weren't as nice as Hot Rod and the others, that didn't mean something couldn;t get worked out, right?

* * *

Over in Beach City, a true clash of the Titans was happening. While she had been doing their best to keep things away from the city itself, that meant that Alexandrite had to move the battle to the water to keep everyone safe. Though, it didn't mean that their new opponent was something to be written off.

Although Bruticus was significantly slower than Alexandrite, he more than made up for it with being more durable than a mountain. Every time that Alexandrite tried to hit him, he would hit her back three times as hard. WIth how much he was pushing back, they wound up on the shore line once more.

"You're finished." Bruticus said, getting closer to Alexandrite.

"Not yet." Alexandrite said, pulling out a bow and drawing the string back. An arrow of energy appeared and was quickly shot at the approaching monster. Several arrows came from the shot, but Bruticus kept coming closer.

Putting his left arm in front of himself, Bruticus activated the blades and let the spin. Doing this created a shield that was able to block the arrows, leaving no damage to him at all. Alexandrite tried to fire another shot, but it was met with the same results as last, and Bruticus was just getting close with that spinning blade shield.

Bringing out the hammer once again, Alexandrite attempted to keep him from getting any closer but attempting to hit his head to disorient him. Thankfully, the big brute was not fast enough to black her, and subsequently lost control of his shield.

Seeing the opportunity to hit him hard, Alexandrite opened her second mouth and let out a blast of fire. Unfortunately, it was met with an equally powerful blast of flames from Bruticus' right arm. Letting out a hearty laugh, Bruticus countered with a powerful punch to the fusion, sending her flying back onto the beach.

"I'll crush you." Bruticus said, lumbering back onto the beach.

As their battle continued to rage onward, there were three vehicles that were quickly approaching the city itself. Even with having to lose several patrol cars along the way, the Autobots had managed to make it to Beach City far quicker than they could have hoped to on foot. While their passengers may have been a little worse for wear after the ordeal, they were at least here now.

"Man, look at this place." Jazz said, "We sure ain't in Iacon anymore."

"No kidding, but we gotta focus. Hopefully, Onslaught and his crew haven't gotten into-" Cliff stopped momentarily as they came over the crest of the hill, only to be met with the sight Bruticus fighting with an equally large creature "too much trouble."

"Oh come one, really?" Hot Rod said in disdain.

Steven couldn't help but feel in awe at the sight before him. If it wasn't for the fact that he knew that the gems were in a fight for their life right now, he would have wanted to let the fight continue. A giant robot fighting a giant woman was something that he could only ever think would happen in a movie.

"Come on Hot Rod, we gotta stop them." Steven said.

"We're on it." Hot Rod said as the three made their way onto the beach that the battle was happening. After making it close enough, the trio stopped to allow for Steven and Peridot to get out before transforming back into their robot forms.

"We'll take care of Bruticus, you stop your friend." Hot Rod told Steven, who simply nodded back at him before both took off to stop the fighting.

"Guys stop!" Steven shouted at Alexandrite, running in front of her, "They're not here to hurt us, it's just a big misunderstanding."

"Steven, get away from here, it's dangerous." she said back, before looking up to see yet another robot come up and approach Bruticus.

"Bruticus, stand down!" Hot Rod called up to the combiner, "There's no reason for this!"

"Get lost!" Bruticus shouted, attempting to backhand Hot Rod, who manage to step out of the way. He tried to do it again but was interrupted when his arm was being held where it was when Jazz came in and used his energy grapple to keep him from rearing his arm back again.

"Easy there big boy. We just want this resolved as easily as possible." Jazz said, only angering the giant even more. Pulling his hand hard, Bruticus managed to pull Jazz into the air and send him flying behind him.

However, as Jazz went flying, he managed to use his energy grapple to hook on to the back of Bruticus' head, causing him to stumble. After Jazz managed to land safely on the ground, he gave one hard tug, causing Bruticus to lose his footing and fall flat on his back.

Seeing this, Alexandrite was quick to realize that Steven may not have been too off with what he said. The one that had just shown up seemed to want this stopped if the way they handled Bruticus was any indication.

"Steven, what's going on here?" she asked the boy.

After managing to get Bruticus subdued, Jazz went to join his fellow Autobots. It was gonna be a good minute before Bruticus cooled off enough, so they might as well make their first impression on Steven's new friend.

"Hey there, I'm Jazz." he said up to the large woman, "I was wondering if we might be able to talk about a few things."


	5. Chapter 4: Phone Home

**Chapter 4: Phone Home**

Once the three Autobots had intervened with Bruticus, and Steven had stopped his guardians from pressing further, things started to simmer down with the groups. The gems unfused back to their three original forms and Combaticons separated back to the five individual selves as well.

To make a point about them not being here to harm anyone, Hot Rod and Jazz told them everything that they needed to know about them. It wasn't any different from what they had told Steven, and they even left out the same details that they had before. Steven already knew more about them then these three, and they didn't intend on letting on anymore than that.

Likewise, the gems gave some information of their own. It wasn't a lot considering that Steven had already taken care of most of it, though they did assume that he hadn't told them about his being only half human. Since it wasn't brought up, they left it at letting them think that he was still only human.

While the Combaticons never actually said anything, they had been listening the entire time, wanting to know everything that they could about the creatures that had been able to match their combined forces. It was always wise to learn about your enemies.

"Well, it's nice to see that some of you can be civil." Pearl said to Jazz, before tossing a dirty look at Swindle, "but would you or your friends kindly explain why it was that you were trying to destroy our home?"

"Woah, hold on there. First off, we are not friends." Onslaught said, finally speaking up, "The day that any of us befriend an Autobot is the day I meet the Allspark."

"That could certainly be arranged." Cliff Jumper said, clear disdain in his voice.

"You wanna pick up where we left off Auto-trash?" Brawl said, "Because I have no problem with giving you that lesson in manners I promised."

"Enough, both of you." Hot Rod interrupted, "None of this matters, especially to the natives."

"Wait, you mean you guys aren't on the same side?" Steven asked.

"That's hardly the point right now." Onslaught said, getting back on track, "To answer your question, it was because we were trying to get at that stockpile of energy that seems to be buried behind that thing. With the state of the outside, we thought it was abandoned."

"Excuse me!?" Pearl said, "I will have you know that I have spent many hours making sure that-" Pearl was interrupted when Garnet put her hand up, letting her know that she would take care of things from this point.

"Look, the state of the house is hardly a topic of concern right now." Garnet said, "What I want to know is what you mean by stockpile of energy."

"It's the reason that we're here in the first place." Onslaught went on, "We were sent to find energy, and there was a signature here that is nearly identical to that of energon."

"To what now?" Amethyst asked.

"It's essentially their life's blood." Steven answered, "They and everything that they use run off of it."

"Though, what you are picking up is not what you think. Allow me to explain." Peridot said, having finally recovered from the breakneck speed they had been traveling at. She then projected an image from her gem, showing the robots just what it was she was talking about.

"The energy source that you claim to have picked up, is not actually an energy, but rather is the signature of our own life source. That being our gems." Peridot explained, pointing to her own gem, "It is through these stones that we are able to project ourselves as physical beings. While I'm not at all sure why our gems give off the same signature as this energon you speak of, I can assure that it isn't the same thing."

After the brief explanation, Onslaught was very skeptical as to if this was true or not. Though, this wouldn't be the first time that something was mistaken for energon. Looking over at Blastoff, Onslaught cocked his head in the small gems direction. Knowing what he meant, Blastoff opened up the holographic projector in his arm. Looking at the projection that Peridot was showing him, and the image provided by Perceptor, he could see that she was correct.

"It's true. The same signature that we saw before in the ship is also present in these gems the creatures have." Blastoff told everyone, "but the real question is; where does this leave us?"

"Living rocks or not, we have to get communications up and report back to Cybertron." Onslaught said, "Once we report our finding, we'll let home base decide what we do from here."

"Hold up there, Onslaught." Jazz said, "You really think it's a good idea to be bringing that thing down here? I mean, the secrets out with them, sure, but so we really need to expose ourselves more?"

"Look, radioing back to our leader takes priority. We'll keep it cloaked, but we are setting up that commlink." Onslaught said, before switching his communications to the ship. "Ground team to scout ship, we need you at our location. We have a place ready for the setup."

"Good luck, I was trying to get Perceptor and he didn't answer." Hot Rod said.

"You were trying to contact a scientist who was probably over engrossed in some sort of experiment. Soundwave is our comms officer, and he always answers." Onslaught said, before going to trying to hail the ship again, "Soundwave, this is Onslaught, do you read me?"

* * *

High above the planet, the scouting ship had taken up a holding position over a different part of the planet that. After the drop off of their scouting parties, Perceptor went to work with trying to figure out why it was that things had changed so much since the last time Shockwave had taken any notes from this planet.

It is to be expected that, with so much time passing, things are going to change. Yet how was it that such a large quantity of energy that had a similar molecular structure to that of energon could just go unnoticed? Did Shockwave really investigate the planet as thoroughly as he claimed?

"It will all be so much easier when I get a sample." Perceptor said to himself, logging down notes into the data files. This planet was going to be invaluable to them once they actually were able to get to that energy source.

Meanwhile, Soundwave had busied himself with preparing the communications relay. Once they got the okay to start, he didn't want any time wasted. Megatron wasn't known for his patience, and it would be wise of all of them to get things done quickly. Even excluding Megatron, the need for energy on their home planet was all too prevalent.

While looking over the antenna's one last time, Soundwave's heard Onslaught coming over the shortwave frequency.

"Soundwave acknowledges. Report." he said, listening to Onslaught, "Confirmed. Locking onto coordinates. Have the area prepped for arrival."

Looking to where Perceptor was, he finally realized how engrossed the scientist was with research and logs. Was it any wonder why he and Shockwave were able to get along so easily when they worked together? While to two had different views on things, they always got the best results. If he were allowed to continue, Soundwave knew that Perceptor would stay there all day.

"Ground team one has reported in. Prepare for landing and relay set up." Soundwave said to him, getting Perceptor out of his stupor.

"Huh? Oh right, yes." Perceptor said, finally coming back to reality, "Setting course for the first drop point."

* * *

"Understood, waiting for arrival." Onslaught said, turning back to the group, "See, Soundwave always has communication down to a T."

"Geez Perceptor, what are you doing up there?" Hot Rod questioned, looking up at the sky.

"Hold it right there." Pearl said, "You can't just go set up a huge satellite here. There are people around and-"

"We have our orders." Onslaught interrupted, "Besides, this cliff face will do a good enough job masking the tower. Not to mention, it's not even that large. Once we know what's happening, we'll more than likely have to take the thing down anyway. If everything you're saying is true, there's no sense in us staying here."

Pearl was about to continue on with her argument, but she really couldn't. Everything that Onslaught had just said did make a lot of sense. Even if she wasn't a fan of having them here, this was likely going to be the quickest solution to getting them out of here. She just hoped that this wouldn't take too long.

Thankfully, it was hardly a wait at all. Although cloaked, the ship that the robots had spoken of could be heard coming from quite a distance away. When it got in close enough, a distorted, faint outline could be seen of it. Almost looking like the image of the sky was being warped and bent.

Upon the ship's landing, the cloak was lost. No longer needed with it being thoroughly concealed by the hillside. To Steven and the gems, the sheer size of the ship was a sight to behold. If this was just one of their scouting ships, then they could only wonder how big some of their other vessels could be.

Not long after its landing, the ship opened up and revealed the other robots that had been referred to. Both of them were carrying large boxes of what Steven assumed was part of the setup they were going to have here.

"Combaticons, retrieve the remaining assembly parts." Soundwave said after placing the box down, the gems noting that his voice highly synthesized compared to all the other bots. "Laserbeak, Rumble eject. Operation; Communication."

As the Combaticons went off into the ship to fetch the rest of the parts, the gems all watched in amazement as two much smaller robots were ejected from Soundwave's chest. The first was what looked like a bird, while the second was a humanoid looking one with large fists and piston-like devices on its arms.

As those two started getting to work with the equipment set up, the second bot came down to join with his fellow Autobots. At least, if the symbols on their bodies were anything to go by.

"Hot Rod, while I must say that this is a decent location for the array to be set up, I must ask why it is that you moved from your previous scouting location. Did you not find any anything that is of use for our mission, or was it-" Perceptor stopped, finally realizing that they were not alone on the beach, "Wh-what is this? What are they doing here? You know protocol; no contact with indigenous life forms. What were you thinking when you-"

"Easy Perceptor." Jazz said, interrupting the scientists' rant, "We all know how things are supposed to go, but this was pretty unavoidable. Especially when Brute-brain decided to get involved with it. But we've kept contact to a minimum. It's only these five that know about us, and we plan on keeping it that way."

"Mission must remain covert. Any and all sightings must be dealt with. Laserbeak, Rumble; terminate." Soundwave said, ordering his minicons.

"Woah there, hold up!" Jazz said before the smaller cons could actually do anything, "I know your boss doesn't care about any other form of life, but we have our orders as well. No other life forms are to be harmed. Now if you want this mission completely botched and have to report back with a mission failure, you're gonna have to go through us first if you wanna get to them."

There was a long pause from Soundwave while his minicons waited for their next orders. As always, the communication officer was meticulous with everything that he did. Considering every possibility before actually acting on it.

"Autobots will be held accountable for all interactions." Soundwave said.

"Fair enough, but you boys are taking responsibility for starting that fight." Jazz said.

"Self defense is basic protocol for all missions. They were not the aggressors." Soundwave responded.

"Not the aggressors?" Pearl said incredulously, "They tried to destroy our house. If we hadn't acted there would have been nothing left and- What are you doing?" Pearl was stopped from her anger fueled speech when Perceptor bent down to get a closer look at her.

"Hmm, so these are the inhabitants of this planet?" Perceptor asked, "Interesting how the body structure is somewhat- wait a moment." Perceptor said, using the tube-shaped piece that was on his shoulder to scan over pearl, who simply stood there flabbergasted by everything happening.

"I'm picking up the same energy signature as what we saw in the initial scan of this planet. How is this possible?" Perceptor asked.

"Well, that's a bit of a story, but I think they'll be better at explaining it than us. Frankly, I still don't think I get it." Hot Rod said, gesturing to Steven.

As the communication array was set up, Steven gave Perceptor the same long-winded overview of everything about this planet and just what it was that they had found. Everything from the real native population of this world, humans, to what it was they were actually seeing on their scans. Perceptor was absolutely fascinated by everything he was hearing, nearly forgetting about the real reason that they were here.

"This is absolutely remarkable." Perceptor said, going into full crazy scientist mode, "An entire species that is derived from projected bodies made from stones of the planet. The sheer leap in evolution that it must have taken for this to be possible is like nothing I have ever studied before. Please, if I may, how is it that your kind came to be? Is there more to your stones then just being minerals? How is it that-"

"I hate to interrupt you there Doc, but they finished with the communication setup." Cliffjumper said, getting Perceptor to back off with the questions.

"Hmm? Oh yes, of course. The entire reason that we're here." Perceptor said, going to join Hot Rod and the others to give their briefing.

"Thanks, he was starting to get as bad as Peridot." Amethyst said, receiving a dirty look from Peri.

"He has a tendency to start speaking in terms no understands except for himself when he gets into things." Cliffjumper explained, "Well, maybe himself and Shockwave, but that's really about it."

"Who's that?" Garnet asked.

"Not important. All that matters right now is getting this report into Optimus. He's gonna have a few things to say, I already know." Jazz said, ing over to the communication array.

The gems were all very confused by everything that was happening. They had been hearing so many different names and things that they didn't understand, and none of it was getting explained to them. The vague and dismissive answers were just leaving them scratching their heads, wanting to know more. They understood the importance of keeping secrets, but what was so important that their visitors couldn't tell them anything solid?

Wanting to get in on the information that was likely going to be passed out, Steven managed to get close enough to the robots that he could see what was happening but managed to stay out of their line of sight. Hopefully, this would provide some answers.

While the gems might have normally told him not to do this, they were just as equally curious as he was. After having to fight these creatures, they needed to know if they truly were friend or foe. They had a duty to this planet, and they weren't about to just let these new aliens come in and act like they owned this world.

"Scouting party to Cybertron, this is Soundwave." the comms officer said, trying to get in contact with their home planet, "To any that are receiving this, response."

"This is commander Starscream." A voice said through the speaking of the instrument, "I see that communication has been established. What's your report?"

"Requesting holo-comm with Lord Megatron to report findings of the scouted planet." Soundwave responded.

"I'm afraid that our leader is currently occupied. He is speaking with Optimus Prime on certain matters. With that said, feel free to give your report to me and I will ensure that Megatron hears them." Starscream said.

"We must have direct communication with both leaders. It is an urgent matter and one that can only be heard by them. Retrieve them." Soundwave responded.

"You dare to give me orders, Soundwave." Starscream said, clearly irritated, "As second in command, I am more than capable of-"

"You do not have clearance." Soundwave said, cutting off the commander, "This is priority one, only our leaders are to hear this. Retrieve Megatron and the Autobot leader."

There was a short pause after Soundwave's response. The comms officer and the second in command had always butted heads, especially when it came to things such as the chain of command. Yet, after a grunt of dissatisfaction, Starscream did yield.

"Very well." Starscream said, the speaker going silent once again. After a very short wait, there was a button that lit up on the control panel of the antenna tower, indicating a request for holographic communication. After hitting the button, Soundwave and all the others moved back so that they could see and speak to who it was on the other end.

Two holographic images appeared in front of the scouting teams. While both of the figures were certainly large, the holographic images did shrink them down a were the two de facto leaders of both factions of Cybertron. Optimus Prime and Megatron.

"I see that long-range communications have been set up. I do hope that you have pulled me away from my meeting with good reason Soundwave. What is your report?" the Decepticon leader demanded.

"I ask for your report as well, Hot Rod." the Autobot leader said.

"Lord Megatron, initial readings of this planet showed strange results." Soundwave said, "Old records given by Shockwave were no longer accurate. The planet is now populated and is showing strange signs of energy signatures similar to that of energon."

"It is true Optimus, the planet is no longer like the old reports." Hot Rod said, "Though, after an investigation, we have confirmed that the readings were not actually a fuel source."

"I see." Optimus said, "Then what was this strange reading?"

"I admit to my own curiosity as well." Megatron said, "If not a viable energy source, then what was it that your scanners picked up?"

"If I may, Lord Megatron, it was not as we thought." Onslaught said to his master, "Upon arriving on this planet, he attempted to gather a piece of the substance. Unfortunately, after we encountered some of the local populace, we couldn't-"

"Locals? Are you saying that you had contact with the species of the planet?" Megatron interrupted.

"It wasn't intentional at all." Hot Rod said, speaking for both parties, "The places that we explored had no signs of life forms upon initial scanning, but we made contact nonetheless. It was really unavoidable."

"How many know of your presence?" Optimus asked.

"Five currently." Jazz answered.

"And why is it that they have not been dealt with, as per my orders?" Megatron asked, anger clear in his tone.

"The Autobots stopped us from carrying out your order, my liege." Onslaught said, "Even going so far as to say that they would re-escalate the war."

"As they should have." Optimus said, "There is no reason for us to be interfering with alien life forms. Nor is there any reason for us to terminate them."

"Optimus, do you not see the folly in keeping those that know about us alive?" Megatron questioned the Autobot leader. "The more that know about us, the more likely chance that he will find out about what is truly happening. The lower the profile we keep, the better off we will be."

"While that is true, we can't just eliminate them." Optimus argued, "We are the ones at fault for letting this happen. Yet, in that same regard, I feel that we now have an opportunity before us."

"And what, pray tell, is that?" Megatron asked.

"While this may not have been what we were looking for, it could lead to something of great use." Optimus said, "While I don't know what you found there, it may be worth investigating. With something that nearly fully resembles energon, it may be the key to figuring out the formula for something synthetic. Something that we greatly need. I believe that if we learn more about this, it could help us with our energon problem."

Megatron said nothing at first, simply mulling over what Optimus said. While the two of them rarely, if ever got along, they did have their moments where even they could agree without issue.

"What do you propose, Optimus?" Megatron asked.

"For now? We leave behind a small team to not only keep track of the ones that know of us, but to also put further research into this matter." Optimus said, "We will each leave behind one member, but then send more qualified people to further research this. What say you Megatron?"

"Hmm… an interesting proposal." Megatron said, "but one that does make sense. Very well Optimus, we will go further into this when our team reports back in person. Soundwave, you will remain behind to maintain communications. Someone will return later to properly relieve you."

"Yes, Lord Megatron." Soundwave said, making no argument to his leader.

"Cliffjumper, you will remain behind with the natives of the world." Optimus said, "Hot Rod, I wish to speak with you when you return."

"Yes Optimus." both said. Hot Rod sounding slightly down with his response, knowing that he had disappointed their leader.

While this entire conversation had taken place, Steven and the gems and been closely listening. Things were definitely not as they seemed. Their new friends had not been giving them the full story, and now they were going to be watched by them. What was going on here?


	6. Chapter 5: Stow Away

**Chapter 5: Stow Away**

Once the new visitors of the planet had finished speaking with their leaders on how things would be working, the majority of them wished to get back to their home planet as quickly as possible. However, there were some that wished to stay a bit longer to learn about the planet. One of which was the scientist, Perceptor.

After learning that more would be coming back to this planet to help with the study that Optimus proposed, he volunteered to stay behind with Cliffjumper. However, this was shot down by both Optimus and Megatron. Optimus for the fact that Perceptor would need to report back to Cybertron and give his findings to them, and Megatron for the fact that he had no intention of having one of his Decepticons outnumbered by Autobots.

Even if Optimus tried to reason with him, Perceptor knew that there was no arguing with the Decepticon leader. However, that didn't mean that he wouldn't make the appeal again when he got back to Cybertron. This planet was a veritable gold mine of information and strange things, and he would not miss out on it.

"Your kind is so strangely unique." Perceptor said to Peridot, managing to get some information after a short while of talking to her, "Most other beings that we have seen in our travels of the cosmos have typically been that of a singular form. How is it possible that your kind is able to shift mass and change your outer appearance without any outside aid?"

Peridot was more than happy to talk to the fellow scientist. While it was nice to have an intelligent conversation, the bigger reason was that she needed to keep both him and the other bots distracted from what was happening with the others.

Unbeknownst to any of the Cybertronians, Steven and the Gems had seen the whole conversation that they had with their leaders. Knowing that they would not only be staying here, but also bringing more back. Something that did not instill much confidence in any of them.

Yes, a hand full of them had proven to pretty be friendly, but there was still the matter of what happened with the ones that were hostile towards them. If this was just a small group of them, then who knew what was going to happen if even more showed up.

Inside of the beach house, the four were busy discussing things, trying to figure out just what they should do.

"We can't just let them leave." Pearl said, "I mean, as much as I would want them to just go, you heard what they said over that call. There are going to be more coming here, and we don't know anything about them other than what little information they gave us."

"No duh, Pearl. We all heard the same thing." Amethyst said, "But I'd be lying if I said you didn't have a point. Sure, Steven met a few good ones, but the ones we ran into were anything but friendly. I don't want them constantly hovering over us, even if they mean well."

"Somehow, I don't think that they're going to listen to us." Garnet said, "No matter how many times that I've tried to run through this in my head, I can't see any possible scenario that doesn't involve them not coming back."

"Well, maybe we're looking at this the wrong way, guys." Steven said, "I mean, I know we just met them and some of them are far less than what you would call… uh… nice, but the ones that I met are ones that I think we can trust. Hot Rod and the Autobots are really here to make sure nothing bad happens. They saved you three, didn't they?"

"Even if that is the case, Steven, we have bigger things to worry about." Pearl went on, "If they come back with more here, who's to stop them from trying to take over the planet? We were barely able to hold them off in our normal forms. Even when we were all fused, we could only just barely hold them back. If all of them can fuse like us, they will roll us over if they want to."

"Well complaining about it sure ain't gonna do anything." Amethyst said, "We need to do something. If they just leave, there's no chance for us to find ways to keep them in line. They know more about us, so were at a big disadvantage. What should we do?"

At first, there was nothing but dead silence as the group scratched their heads in thought. None of them really knew what to do with the situation that was presented to them. It wasn't like they could just force their visitors to give them information or leave for good. Even if they could, they still knew where they were and could easily come back with an army to wipe them out. They had to solve this as peacefully as possible, but the question was; how?

While everyone had been thinking about what to do, there was an idea that was churning in Garnet's head. Weighing the possibilities of what could happen, she determined that it was worth the risk. If nothing else, they would be on equal terms with their visitors in that they would all know the lowdown on each other.

Getting up from her place on the couch, Garnet made her way to the temple. The three that were left behind simply looked at each other in question, only receiving shakes of the head, not knowing what it was that their leader could possibly have planned. It wasn't long before she came back, and they got a partial answer. She was holding a bubble filled with gem shards.

"Garnet, what are you doing with that?" Pearl asked.

"Trying to get us some more information, but it's going to require all of us playing a part." Garnet told Pearl, "Do you still have that space suit you were making for Steven?"

* * *

Outside, the Cybertronians were all waiting outside the ship, ready to get going and off of the planet. The only thing that was keeping them from getting out of there, was the fact that Perceptor still was not done talking with Peridot.

"Hey, tell him to quit with the analyzing and get in the ship. Megatron will have my head if we take too long." Onslaught told Hot Rod.

"Seems to me like that would be the more preferable of the options, but I do agree that we have to get going." Hot Rod said, walking up behind Perceptor, "Hey, we need to get going, wrap it up. I'm sure you'll have more time to chat if Optimus says you can come back."

"Oh I know, Hot Rod," Perceptor said, "but we will need to bring back all the information that we can if we're going to make the case of this being a viable source of information. With everything I'm learning now, I'm sure that it will be an easy feat but, even then, one can never learn too much."

"Unless you overload your drive." Cliffjumper said, "Come on, we're burning energon just sitting here."

"Hey guys, wait a second!" Amethyst called out, running up to the group, "We want to give you something for the trip. A little way of saying; Welcome!" Amethyst was wearing a big grin on her face as she handed a bubble off to Perceptor. "Just don't pop it."

Taking the Orb into his massive hand, Perceptor looked it over. While he was doing that, Peridot couldn't help but wonder what it was that Amethyst was doing. She was just handing over the shards of gems to a stranger. Before she could ask, she heard a 'psst' coming from behind her. Looking back, she saw Steven and the rest hiding close to the ship. Waving for her to come over, she silently sidestepped in their direction.

"What is going on?" Peridot asked, "Why is she giving them a bubble of shards? Why aren't you doing anything to stop her? And what is Steven wearing?"

The thing that Peridot was questioning was the suit that Garnet had mentioned earlier. It was a patched together thing that looked just barely able to pass as a space suit. Steven was even wearing a fishbowl on his head in lieu of a helmet.

"Listen closely, because this is very important." Garnet told her, "We need you to keep an eye on them while we're away. We don't want them getting into anything-"

"Away? What are you talking about?" Peridot asked.

"We're going to sneak on the ship and find out what it is our new friends are keeping from us." Pearl said, "we just need you to make sure that they don't find out that we're on there."

"I cannot even begin to tell you the list of everything wrong with what you just said." Peridot told them, "But I think I'll start with just a simple question; How?!"

"Just keep them busy long enough that we can sneak on." Steven told her, "Come on Peridot, we need to figure out what's going on, and they're not going to tell us. If they plan on coming back and even staying here, we need to know everything that we can. Please, we just need to get there and figure this out. We promise that will be as quick as we can, but we need your help."

"Again, there is a large list of problems with that." Peridot said, "You do not have any idea how long they'll be gone. What if they're gone far longer than you expect? How do you intend to get back after you have what it is you're looking for? What are you going to do if you get discovered?"

"They had to have gotten here somehow." Garnet said, "Even if they go off somewhere far, they said that they're coming back. Though, your tinkering will help ensure that we don't spend that long there."

Giving a quizzical look to the fusion, Peridot at first didn't know what it was that Garnet was talking about. That was until Steven presented a device that looked very familiar to her.

Now that she was no longer stressed for materials, Peridot had been doing a lot of experiments with some of the technology that she was at her disposal. This ranged from horrible malfunctions that literally blew up in her face, to things that somewhat worked. One of these devices, the one that Steven was holding, was a prototype teleporter. It was meant to be a way to have a mobile teleportation pad wherever you were, but Peridot success with the thing had only been with a few select tests.

"Are you nuts!?" Peridot shouted in a whisper, "I haven't tested that thing on anything other than inanimate objects. There's no telling what could happen yet."

"You're saying you doubt your own work?" Garnet asked.

"What? Don't be absurd. I built it, so why wouldn't it wor-" Stopping herself, Peridot realized that she had argued against her initial statement. Wrinkling her face, she knew that this part of the argument couldn't be won, as it would simply result in her doing little more than belittling her own work.

"Alright… but what about him?" Peridot asked, pointing at Steven, "Are you seriously going to tell me that your okay with him going? Especially given everything that could happen?"

"Believe me, this was not my idea, and I heavily disapproved of it." Pearl said, rolling her eyes slightly, "Given that this is very dangerous, I didn't want him to come, but Garnet was quick to point out that every time we have told him not to go, he does anyway. It was a bit of back and forth, but he's coming. I'm not happy about this, but it might be for the best. He seems to have already figured out how to get on their good side."

Peridot didn't answer immediately, given what was presented to her some very strong thought. While the points they were presenting were all valid, she really didn't think that what they were trying to do was a good idea. Like they had said, the information they had on these visitors was limited at best. For all they knew, their new acquaintances could have a ship that destroyed alien life forms on first detection.

Yet in that same regard, she couldn't deny her own curiosity about them. It was very likely that others were coming to this planet, and they were at a distinct disadvantage to them. Not only with the obvious physical aspect, but with knowledge as well. As much as Steven had learned with his questions, there still was only so much they knew about these creatures.

Their time was short. Their visitors would be departing soon, and they wouldn't be able to follow in any way on their own. Peridot knew she had to make a choice now, or risk letting their one opportunity slip by.

"Oh… alright." Peridot finally conceded, "Like you said, just be as quick as possible. I don't know how long I can keep them busy, and I have no idea how those other two will react once they figure out what happened."

"Thanks, Peridot." Steven said, patting his friend on the back.

With all of them now having the okay to get going, Steven, Garnet, and Pearl got themselves into a better position so that they could sneak aboard the ship. While they were doing that, Peridot went back to Perceptor so that she could take Amethyst's place.

"Peri, there you are." Amethyst said, the fake smile still plastered on her face. "I was just telling about all the things they'll need to know about properly keeping this bubble safe. But I think that you would be far better at this kinda thing than me."

"I'd be happy to explain." Peridot said, putting on an equally fake grin before turning her attention to Perceptor.

As Peridot took attention away from her, Amethyst very quietly stepped away from the conversation, getting back over to the rest of her friends. Trying to sneak past ten pairs of eyes was easier said than done, but she managed it nonetheless.

"Alright, everything's set." Amethyst said, looking back over at Peridot, "You think she'll be okay?"

"We don't have many options, so let's just hope she keeps her cool long enough for us to get on board." Garnet said, not liking their options. Even still, they needed this information. She could only hope that the risk would be worth the reward.

While all the robots had their back turned, the four began to make their way to the opening of the loading platform, watching as Peridot continued to try and hold their attention. They could tell the Decepticons were getting impatient, but if she could just hold them for a little longer, they could get on.

"So that's the basics of things, but like Amethyst said, don't let the thing pop." Peridot reiterated to Perceptor, "Nothing invasive, right?"

"Of course not." Perceptor said, barely able to have the orb float on his fingertip, "I'm well aware of the respect that must be had when handling things of this nature. I promise you that the utmost care will be taken with the handling of-"

"Hey, slap a muffler on it!" Brawl shouted at the scientist, his patience finally at its end, "You can run your crazy experiments back on Cybertron, but right now we gotta go."

"Watch the attitude, Brawl." Cliffjumper warned, "Bolts for brains does have a point though, Perceptor. You need to get going."

"Yeah, let's wrap this up and get headed." Hot Rod said, getting ready to turn towards the ship.

Seeing this, the Gems froze in place, knowing that if they were seen now, their would be all for not. They were nearly there, and Hot Rod was about to expose them. All of them took in a quiet gasp until he stopped himself and looked back down at Peridot.

"Oh Peridot," he said, kneeling down to her, "Do you know where Steven is? I wanted to talk to him."

"Uh, he's… he's… he's sleeping, yeah that's it, sleeping." Peridot lied, "Humans need to sleep. I guess for you guys, it would be like powering down to recharge."

"Oh, I see." Hot Rod, "Well, when you see him again, can you tell him that I'm going to try and come back here. I really want to get to know more about this place, and… maybe get to know you all better."

Steven couldn't help but smile a slight bit upon hearing that. Knowing that Hot Rod was going to try and come back was a bit of a comforting thought. If nothing else, it meant that he would have someone that he was already acquainted with. That meant that he would at least be able to have someone willing to listen and ensure that no one would get hurt.

"Yeah, sure, no problem." Peridot blurted out, her eyes shifting over to Steven, silently trying to convey that they needed to get moving.

Quickly understanding what Peridot was trying to get to them, Steven and the Gems began moving again and were able to get onto the ship without issue this time. Once inside, they found a small area inside of the ship used for storage of parts that they could easily stash themselves into that the Cybertronians would hopefully not look.

"Thanks, hopefully, I'll see all of you guys again soon." Hot Rod said, standing back up and turning to face everyone, "Alright, let's load up."

"About time." Onslaught said, before turning to the comms officer, "Soundwave, keep the relay open. Provided nothing else happens on this return trip, there should be replacements here soon enough."

"Affirmative." Soundwave replied, going back to satellite to ensure it was still coordinated correctly.

"Jazz, I swear if you leave me stranded here with tin voice, I will hunt you down." Cliffjumper told his friend.

"Good luck getting off of here to do it." Jazz said, giving Cliffjumper a light push before heading to the ship. "Let's go."

As the robots all loaded up into the ship, their hidden away passengers tucked themselves further into the dark crevices of the cargo bay, hoping that they would go unseen for the duration of the flight.

Thankfully, none of them seemed to notice them, as they all began to go up to the flight deck. Once the last Decepticon got onto the ship, the bay doors closed behind them, making their choice to go only that much more final.

Getting into the cockpit, both Blastoff and Vortex took their seats, starting the engines up. Getting prepped for take off, the rest of the ship's crew strapped themselves in to get ready for the sudden acceleration that was about to ensue. With preparations taken care of, Vortex opened up the communications link with Soundwave

"Keep comms open with Cybertron." Vortex said, "As soon as we're out of the atmosphere, be sure that we have a space bridge ready. I don't want us hanging out in space any longer than we need to."

"Like you've ever had a problem with flying, Vortex." Swindle commented.

"Hardly the point. We only brought enough energon for here and back." Vortex said, doing one final check of the controls, "So we can't afford to waste time."

"Also don't want to disappoint bucket head either." Jazz commented, "Or maybe you want to go back to that holding cell you were broken out of?"

"Can it, manifold-mouth." Blastoff said, turning his attention to the controls. "Set for take off. Strap in and hold on."

Outside the ship, the ones that remained stood back as the takeoff procedure commenced. The engines kicked up a lot of sand, but it wasn't long before they were off the ground and headed for the sky.

Once the ship was out of sight, Soundwave went back to the console of the communication tower. Wasting no time, he started to get in contact with Cybertron.

"Scouting party Gamma to Cybertron; requesting space bridge back at the following coordinates." Soundwave said, punching in the grids into the console.

"Granted." a voice from the console said.

With that taken care of, the two remaining bots were left with little to do until the ship came back to get them. With neither side wanting to interact with the other, Soundwave simply went back to monitoring the communication relay. But not before sending out one of his minions for a little work.

"Laserbeak, eject." Sound said, his chest opening to eject his most used minicon, "Operation: information. Gather further data on the planet."

As the bird looking robot flew off from the group, Peridot could barely contain her nervousness about this whole situation that they had gotten themselves into. Cliffjumper was quick to pick up on this and knelt down to be more at her level.

"Don't worry Peridot, I'm not gonna let anything happen while we're here." Cliffjumper said, before turning to Soundwave, "And for your sake, you and your little scraplets had better not cause anything while we're here."

Soundwave didn't even look up from his console to acknowledge what Cliffjumper said, simply keeping his optics glued to his work. That was one thing about him that Cliff always hated. For a communication officer, Soundwave could be incredibly quiet, thus making him very difficult to read.

"Anyway," Cliffjumper said, focusing his attention back to Peridot, "When more of us get here, we'll make sure that things go as smooth as possible. Now, where are your other friends? I wouldn't mind doing a little scouting before the others get here."

"Uhhhhh…." was all Peridot could muster.

* * *

Back on the scouting ship, the stowaways were having something of a rough ride in their nonexistent seats. Taking off put a lot of pressure on them, seeing as how the ship seemed to go far faster than anything they had been in before. The thought that they might pop crossed their minds on more than one occasion.

In no time at all, they were out of Earth's atmosphere and were now already getting close to the moon. Thankfully, they managed to catch a reprieve when the ship slowed down. Up in the cockpit area, both pilots and the passengers waited for the transportation back to the home planet to appear.

They didn't wait long, as the sight of a large portal appeared not far off from where they were. While the pilots plotted a course straight for it, their extra cargo couldn't help but wonder what was going on. They had no way of seeing what was going, and they had no idea where these beings came from. For all they knew this could take a good while. Thank goodness they brought a fail-safe.

However, none of them were ready for what happened.

Entering the space bridge, the ship was immediately transported far across to cosmos. While the cybertronians were fully used to this, the same could not be said for Steven and the Gems. As they went through, all of them were struck with strange feelings that seemed to engulf their entire bodies.

By the time they were through, all of the gems had a hard time keeping their forms, and Steven felt like his bones were vibrating.

No sooner had the ship come out of the space bridge, did they receive a transmission from the planet.

"Scouting ship Gamma, this is Iacon ariel command." a voice said over the intercom of the cockpit, "You are cleared for landing at bay three. You are to immediately go to the Iacon gathering hall. Our leaders want to speak with you."

"Understood." Blastoff said, shutting the communication link off, "They must be really desperate for this information. Landing in the central operation point?"

"No joke." Hot Rod commented, "I wonder if things are really as desperate as they've made things sound?"

"With energon becoming harder to find every day, it's no surprise." Onslaught said, "The idea of something that could be just as effective, and may even lead to a substitute? Of course, they're going to be jumping on that."

"Even then, we only know so much about this stuff." Jazz said, "The idea of using other forms of fuel to make energon is one thing, but making a form of energon that is completely synthetic? Can that even be done?"

"That remains to be seen." Perceptor answered, "Even with the amount of research that we have put into it, there are still many pieces missing. Not to mention, the war has not been any help. But these fragments may be able to offer some form of insight. If energon signatures can be seen in other living beings, then perhaps it can be created."

While Steven and the Gems made sure to keep out of sight, the things being said by their new acquaintances were still within earshot. From the way things were sounding, their situation was far more desperate than they let on back at earth. So already, some of their suspicions had been proven correct.

The ship wasn't in the air much longer, soon slowing to a stop before touching down on what the Gems could only assume was the ground. It wasn't long before the cargo doors opened up again, the passengers of the craft all congregating there. Keeping quiet, the Gems all waited for them to leave so they could get to work with gathering information.

"Welcome back, Autobots." the Gems heard, this voice sound a bit more grizzled and hardened than any of the others before, "Where's Cliffjumper?"

"Good to see you, Ironhide." Jazz said, "Let's just say that things on that new planet have escalated a bit, and more attention is required. The rest we gotta discuss with Prime first."

"Then I suggest you Auto-brats get your hides upstairs." another voice said, this one sounding far less inviting, "Onslaught, you and your Combaticons do the same. Don't keep Megatron waiting."

"Don't overheat yourself, Barricade." Onslaught said, trying to keep lieutenant in line, "We're going. Just make sure that all the stuff gets unloaded."

"Yeah, we better be off too." Hot Rod said, "I have a feeling that this will be quite the lengthy meeting."

With that, there was a series of loud footsteps leading out of the ship, followed by a loud huff of displeasure from the one that the Gems now knew as Barricade.

"Kickback!" Barricade yelled, "You and the other Insecticons get over here and start unloading this stuff. Don't let any of these Autobots touch our supplies."

"We're the ones who should be worried, Barricade. Next time you try to swipe energon without approval, we're gonna have ourselves a scrap." Ironhide said, chastising the Decepticon. "Smokescreen, Bumblebee, let's get this stuff off the ship."

Hearing that, the Gems knew that they needed to act quickly, otherwise their stay here was going to be very short. Looking around, they were all trying to come up with something that could get them off the ship without being noticed.

Getting a slight bit nervous, Steven started to dart his head around the small space that they were in, the heavy breathing he was doing making a small bit of fog appear on the inside of his makeshift helmet. Thankfully, he didn't have to look long to find a solution.

Steven's eyes fell on a small opening in one of the boxes that they were near. Pointing it out to the other gems, they all looked and nodded in approval. If nothing else, they would at least be able to get off the ship and hopefully get closer to some answers.

Managing to climb inside of the empty box, they didn't have to wait long before their impromptu hiding spot was picked up and walked off the ship. All the while, the Gems all stayed quiet, merely listening to some of the conversations that were taking place between the two factions.

"Hey, Sharpshot, keep your claws off of that." a much younger voice said, "You know that's Autobot property."

"Mind your own business, Autobot." A very feral sounding voice said, "My hands only touch Decepticons things."

"I saw you eyeing it from back here. I know you and your bugs ways." the voice shot back.

As the arguing kept going, the box that they were in was set down. Going to the lid, Garnet just barely peeked herself out to see what was happening. All she saw was six more robots argue amongst each other, paying no attention to any of the boxes that surrounded them.

While her range of sight was fairly limited, she could see far enough away to make out where their friends had gone. They looked to be headed to a lift, no doubt going to wherever it was that meeting was supposed to take place.

Looking back to the other group again, she noticed that they were still arguing, and thus not paying attention to them. Signaling for the others to make their way up, Garnet hopped out of the box and ran over to another to keep out of sight.

By the time that all of them had gotten out of their former hiding spot, they not only got a good look at the new robots around them, but also a small glimpse of just what kind of world they were on.

Everything seemed to be composed entirely of metal or artificial material. Though they were just inside of a hanger, so maybe they were jumping to conclusions. In any case, they had to get moving before they lost sight of their already known robotic friends.

Thankfully, the other eight were still waiting on their elevator, so they were still on the right track. After managing to weave in and out of cover, the four finally made it to the lift, only to just make it in time as the elevator doors opened.

The eight had gotten caught up in a conversation about what they would say during the meeting, thus not seeing the Gems as they snuck past them. Sneaking past the ones waiting, the four quickly found a hiding spot within a vent on the elevator wall. After the robots boarded the elevator, their conversation continued.

"Megatron's going to have your head when he finds out what you three did." Brawl said, "It's against both sets of protocol, and Megatron-"

"Has no jurisdiction over us." Hot Rod said, "I just can't wait for what he does to you. I mean, nearly losing out to a local creature? Never thought a Con would be brought so low."

Amethyst had to hold back a snicker a Brawl let out a furried roar. Pearl gave her a warning glare, putting her finger to her lips to remind her to keep quiet. Amethyst simply rolled her eyes, knowing that staying sneaky was their best and only option right now. She didn't need Pearl to remind her of something so basic.

"Keep it up Auto-trash," Brawl warned, "At one point I'm not going to care about the consequences, and when I do, I'll-"

The doors to the elevator then opened, revealing to incredibly massive forms before it.

"You'll what, Brawl?" One of them asked the group, a very clear air of authority and power in his voice.

"Uh, n-nothing, Lord Megatron." Brawl said, immediately shrinking away upon seeing his leader.

At long last, the Gems finally got a glimpse of the Decepticon leader, and everything they had been hearing up until this point was truly accurate. He was far larger than any of the other robots, and his overall presence screamed menacing. A true form of a dictator if there ever was one.

"I hope, for your sake, that it was nothing, Brawl." Megatron threatened, "Because I would hate for all of this to be undone because of your stupidity."

Brawl didn't say anything this time, simply staying quiet out of fear of angering his leader once was then that the other form spoke up. Unlike the Decepticon leader, this one was far less malicious in his tone. His voice, although deep, sounded very controlled and calm.

"Welcome back, Autobots." Optimus said, "I'm sorry to say that we can't waste time with pleasantries. If the information you told us is true, we need to make a decision soon. Come, we'll speak in the great hall."

"Yes, Optimus." The Autobots said as they all exited the elevator. Just as they all left, the Gems scurried out of the vent before the elevator closed, taking cover in the architecture of the building to keep out of sight once again.

It wasn't a very long walk from the elevator to the aforementioned great hall that Optimus spoke of, and the Gems couldn't be more thankful for it. Having to constantly weave between pieces of the architecture, while simultaneously keeping quiet and out of sight of every robot that passed by was no easy feat. By the time they had got to where they were going, Steven was nearly out of breath.

Entering the great hall, the Gems took in the design of the whole place. It seemed that, despite all of them being machines, the beings of this planet seemed to have something of an artistic side. If this room was anything to go by, one couldn't help but wonder what the rest of this planet was like. Yet, as nice as it was, the real reason they were here was to learn more about these beings.

"Now then, let's get started." Optimus said, taking his place at the circular table. "What are your findings?"

"Yes, let's get to it." Perceptor said, using the device on his shoulder to display a holographic image while explaining everything about the planet. "Upon our arrival, it was clear that the planet was vastly different from the readings that Shockwave provided. Among the changes to the surface world, the planet's core seems to have taken on a different form altogether. Upon closer analysis of a sample, we have deduced that this is not energon. Rather, it is a form of crystallized life form. Yet the energy signature of these beings is, perplexingly, near identical to that of unrefined energon. Further tests will need to be run, but I do believe that this opens a vast number of possibilities for future research into alternative energy sources."

"Fascinating." Megatron commented, taking great note of all the images shown to them. "And what of the energon deposits that were said to have been hidden away on this planet? Were any discovered?"

"Unconfirmed, Lord Megatron." Onslaught said, "Due to the similarities in the energy signatures, we scouted out two of the largest residue sights to see if it would yield any results. Unfortunately, we were stopped by the local life forms."

"You mean you got your fenders kicked in by them." Jazz said, earning a snort from Hot Rod. Unfortunately, this also activated Brawl's hair-trigger temper once again. He was ready to vault his way over the table and deal with the Autobot his own way but was thankfully stopped by his leader.

"Enough!" Megatron shouted, "Optimus, I suggest that you restrain your subordinate. Unless you wish for this to end in disaster."

"I recommend you do the same." Optimus retorted.

Although he backed down from attacking, Brawl was still seething with anger. The Autobots were working his last nerve, and he needed a release if he was expected to continue on. So, with no other alternative, he slammed his fist into the closest thing he could find. That being one of the support pillars of the room. Hitting with such great force that he was able to take the thing down.

Unfortunately, this had been the place that Steven and the Gems had hidden. With the pillar knocked down, they were now in full view of several of the Decepticons. Namely, Megatron himself.

"What the?" Onslaught said, marching up to them, "Those are the vermin that we ran into on that planet. What are they doing here?!"

"A most valid question." Megatron added, causing Onslaught to recoil and spin around to face his master.

"Lord Megatron, I assure you that we had no idea that the aliens were aboard the ship." Onslaught tried to explain, before turning to the Autobots. "You were the ones that brought them, aren't you?"

"That doesn't make any sense, Onslaught." Hot Rod retorted, "Why would we bring them here?"

"While I wouldn't put it past an Autobot to do something like that, that is hardly the concern at the moment." Megatron interrupted, "What I am gathering from this is that neither of you did appropriate checks before leaving, and now we have outsiders on our planet."

Frozen by the fact that they had been discovered, the Gems knew that they were in way over their heads. Already the accusations were being thrown out, and the way that they were going to be dealt with could only be speculated. While they knew the Autobots were less likely to be violent, there was no telling what the Decepticons would do.

"Seeing as how none of you wish to follow my orders," Megatron said, approaching the Steven and the Gems, "I suppose I'll have to deal with this myself. Starting with you."

Megatron lifted his arm at Steven, pointing a cannon that was larger than he was at him. Steven's eyes went wide, letting out a quiet gasp as he looked down the barrel of the weapon. Fear paralyzed him, making him unable to move and try to get out of the way. Thankfully, the Gems were far quicker to react.

They were at his side without a moment's hesitation, their weapons brandished and ready as they surrounded him.

"If you want him, you'll have to go through us." Pearl threatened, to no avail.

"An acceptable proposal." Megatron said, his fusion cannon starting to power up.

"Poor choice of words, Pearl." Amethyst chastised, looking up at what was undoubtedly going to be their end.

Yet it would not be the end, as the Autobot leader intervened. Optimus came up to Megatron's side and brought out his own blaster, pressing it point blank at Megatron's head.

"I can not allow that, Megatron." Prime warned, only to be met with Onslaught doing much the same to him.

"Try it, and you'll land yourself in the same spot, Prime." Onslaught said, only to have Jazz do the same thing.

"Your head is gonna land about 20 Hics away if you don't put that down Onslaught." Jazz warned.

It soon resulted in everyone in the hall pulling weapons on each other. The atmosphere of the room was thick with tension, proving to the gems the fragility of the alliance that these two factions had. Even the smallest things could set them off.

"You would really risk endangering everything for the sake of these pathetic life forms, Prime?" Megatron asked, not lowering his arm.

"Aliens or not, I will not allow you to harm them. They are not part of this war, and you have no reason to destroy them." Optimus said.

"They know of the location of our planet, and possibly more." Megatron shot back, "It's too dangerous to keep them alive, Prime. Do some tactful thinking for once and lower that weapon, lest you make a mistake that Cybertron can't afford to pay for."

"You will lower your weapon, or it will be the last mistake you make." Optimus warned, not backing down from his stance.

There was a short period of silence, neither side backing down. The entire time it was happening, the Gems couldn't have been more thankful for the fact that they were somewhat acquainted with the Autobots. The only real question now was; what was going to happen to them?

The silence lasted for what felt like minutes before it was all interrupted by the loud blaring of an alarm. Both sides look up, waiting for the word on the nature of the warning.

" **ALL UNITS, BATTLE STATIONS! INCOMING ATTACK FORCE!"**


	7. Chapter 6: Iacon Under Siege

**Chapter 6: Iacon Under Siege**

"It would seem that these pests have managed to get a little more time." Megatron said through gritted teeth, lowering his cannon, "Seeing as how we have far more pressing matters to tend to."

No sooner did Megatron lower his weapon, did everyone else in the room. With the immediate danger no longer being pointed directly at them, Steven and the Gems all let out sighs of relief. Yes, it was clear that it wasn't going to last, but the immediate danger was avoided for now, and possibly for good. Provided that things with the Autobots didn't go sour as well.

"Onslaught," Megatron said, turning to his underling, "You and the Combaticons will join the fight with our ground troops. I refuse to be taken by surprise any further today."

"Yes, Lord Megatron." Onslaught said, turning to his brothers, "Combaticons, move out."

On the command, all of the Combaticons switched into the vehicle mode, making their way for the exit. With the five of them out of the room, Megatron turned to Optimus once again.

"Don't think that this is over so easily, Prime." Megatron warned, "We will settle this matter once _this_ issue is dealt with."

"I will allow you only this last warning to let this be, and let us deal with them." Optimus said, "Attempt anything else, and you will find any further negotiations to be near impossible."

"We'll see about that." was all Megatron said before casting his optics down at the small beings.

Steven couldn't help but bite his lip at the way the Decepticon leader looked at him. It a look that was all too similar to the ones the diamonds gave him, yet somehow _more_ cold and calculative. As if he was trying to convey the ways he would end him using only his eyes.

With nothing else said, Megatron shifted shape, taking on what looked like to Steven, a sort of jet form. With his vehicle form taken, Megatron's thrusters ignited, and he left the room at an insanely fast speed.

With the source of standoff gone (if only for the moment), the Autobots were able to relax ever so slightly. There was still a battle to be fought, but at least it wouldn't be a complete free for all with every faction.

Yet Hot Rod was quick to remember the reason for the debacle.

"Steven?!" he shouted, "What are you guys doing here? _How_ did you get here?!"

"Questions that do need to be answered, but not here." Optimus said before anything could be elaborated on, "We must take them to the nerve center. It will be safest there. Wheeljack, I need a ground bridge."

"Optimus, with all due respect, do you really think that is the wisest idea?" Perceptor asked, "I realize that our situation is not ideal, but that is our most secure area for a reason."

"It is our only option at the moment, Perceptor." Optimus said, before looking down at the four, "I'm sorry that this is the way we had to meet, but we must see to our planet's defense. Any questions and concerns that you have will be answered afterward."

While the four of them had their doubts about things on this planet, there was something about the way that the Autobot leader spoke that helped put them at a slight bit of ease. His voice was oddly reassuring. Despite it being so deep, it had an almost comforting tone to it. Almost like a parent.

Not long after Optimus made the call to his friend, a large green portal opened up behind all of them.

"Perceptor, you go through first." Optimus told the scientist, "We will join you momentarily."

Perceptor simply nodded, casting one last glance down at their visitors before making his way to the ground bridge. This day had been full of far too many surprises for his liking, so he was looking forward to getting back to his lab.

"Jazz, you will join me on the line with helping to drive all incoming forces back." Optimus told his friend, before looking over to Hot Rod, "Hot Rod, you will remain in the nerve center with our guests. If anything happens, ensure that they get back to their home planet safely."

"Yes Optimus." the two said simultaneously.

"Come." Optimus said to the four, gesturing to the portal.

The gems were understandably hesitant about going through. They had been on this planet for less than an hour, and they had their lives threatened. Even with the fact that they knew the Autobots were less likely to hurt them, there was no real telling if all of them were as civil the ones that came to earth.

That being said, they were not swimming in options at the moment.

Steven was the first one to step forward, looking up at Optimus with a mixture of curiosity and caution. The two made eye contact, and the mutual feeling of hesitation was shared by both of them.

Despite the very clear difference in both size and structure, Steven could see emotions in the robotic being's eyes. Despite the obvious feelings of uncertainty between them, there was a strong feeling of confidence coming from Optimus. Something that was helping to ease the tension out of him. And, if nothing else, he had come to their aid without any delay.

Looking back at the other three, Steven nodded his head.

"If they really wanted to hurt us, I don't think they would have fought that hard to help us."

While none of the gems were fully convinced, they knew that options were limited, at best. Yes, Jazz and Hot Rod had proven to be welcoming, but that could have very well been a complete ruse. It wouldn't be the first time that they were fooled by someone pretending to be friendly.

"Well, it's our best bet. Anything's better than waiting for big, grey, and angry to come back." Amethyst said.

"They're both right. We'll work out all of the details later, but we need to get somewhere safer than this. If only for the moment." Garnet said, looking to Pearl.

"Oh… alright. I can't argue with this. Trap or not, at least it will buy us some time." Pearl conceded.

Optimus nodded to the four of them, gesturing to the portal once more. The four began to walk to the opening of energy, wondering if this thing would cause the same effect that happened on the flight here. Considering they hadn't seen what brought them here in the first place, it could only be speculated at.

However, just as the three were about to go through, several explosions could be heard outside, causing the ground to shake and the lights to flicker. Everyone ducked their heads a slight bit, fearing for debris or shrapnel to come flying their way.

After the explosions, the ground bridge began to pulsate and distort. Everyone looked to it, noticing that it was starting to fade until it distorted so much that it completely vanished.

"Oh, blast it!" Optimus heard over the radio, immediately recognizing the voice.

"Wheeljack, report. The ground bridge has collapsed." Optimus said.

"Optimus, we have a situation up here. I don't know what they hit out there, but we a blew a fuze." The inventor was interrupted by the sound of another explosion in the background. "Make that three fuses."

"Was Perceptor able to get through?" Optimus asked.

"That I was, Optimus." the scientist said over the radio, "We're already working to get power back to the ground bridge, but it may take some time. Though I'm afraid that keeping the power running, much less stable, is going to consume a large amount of that time."

"Then we'll have to transport them by another means." Optimus said, trying to think of a way to get their guests to safety.

"If we need to get them out of here, we're in luck. We brought back more than just information from that planet." Jazz said, before changing into his new alternate earth vehicle mode.

Seeing this, Hot Rod did the same and changed to his vehicle mode. While the style of cars that they had chosen were not exactly roomy, between the two of them, they could hold the four and get them where they needed.

While it surprised Optimus a bit to see that both Jazz and Hot Rod in different forms, it was not something he was about to question. There was clearly more to the planet that they had visited than any of them initially thought, but further investigation would have to wait.

"Very well." Optimus said, "I will provide you with protection, should anything happen on our way there. Stay close and do not take any unnecessary risks. Let us hope that the trip there has little trouble."

With that, Optimus transformed into his alternate form. To the gems, it almost looked like some sort of truck, but there were was a noticeable difference. Behind them, they heard the sound of car doors opening.

"Hop in you guys." Hot Rod said, "We can each take two of you. Just strap yourselves in, and hold on. I have a feeling this ride is going to be a little more than bumpy."

The four did as they were asked, with Amethyst and Steven going with Hot Rod, and Pearl and Garnet riding with Jazz. As soon as they were seated, the doors closed and secured themselves.

"Nice interior, Hot Shot." Amethyst commented, looking around the inside of Hot Rod's vehicle form.

"Uh… Thanks?" Hot Rod said, not sure if she was giving him a genuine compliment.

"Welcome aboard, I'm Jazz and I'll be your driver. For your safety, I ask that you keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. We may experience some traffic today, so keep your schedules loose, and thank you for choosing Autobot transit." Jazz told the two, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

While Garnet did appreciate his attempt, Pearl was far less amused. They still had no idea where in the universe they were, or where they were about to be going. As easy as it was to make jokes, she was still longing for answers on many things.

With all of them now secured, Optimus and the other Autobots revved themselves up.

"Autobots, Roll out!"

With that phrase uttered, Optimus sped out of the meeting hall, Jazz and Hot Rod following closely behind him.

* * *

"While I have been doing a great deal of research on this planet since arriving here, yet there are still some things that even _I_ do not understand." Peridot informed the Autobot.

"You don't say." Cliffjumper said, sounding completely disinterested.

After the scouting ship had left, Peridot had decided to keep Cliffjumper more or less distracted by offering to show him around the area of Beach City. While his previous question about where everyone had gone was unanswered, he knew that reconning the area was probably a good idea. If there were going to be more coming, than he should have at least a basic idea of everything that was around.

Not only that, but he also wanted to make sure that Soundwave's underling didn't decide to get into any trouble with the locals. He wasn't that worried about the Con himself, as he knew that he would continue to simply monitor the Communication relay, like almost always seemed to do back on Cybertron.

So there he was, in his new vehicle form, driving around the area with Peridot in his driver's seat. It all would have been fine, enjoyable even, if it weren't for one simple thing.

Peridot refused to stop talking or calm down for even a single second.

It's not that he minded having her tell him things about the planet and everything around, but she did so like a scraplet that had gotten into red energon. She talked inanely fast, and she seemed to try and justify herself as some sort of superior intellect among everyone else in the small group that they had met.

"Although I will admit that I have some problems with humans and this planet in general, there are many perks to living here as well." Peridot went on, "I'm sure it will take you all some time to get used to things as well but rest assured, I will be so generous as to help you all."

"How lucky we are." Cliff said, barely listening at this point.

He could only hope that Jazz and the rest of the bots were enduring more problems than him. He needed to do something to get his mind off of things. He then remembered that Hot Rod had earlier picked up some sort of transmission while they were making their way here. Maybe there was something he could pick up.

As Peridot continued to drone on, Cliff began turning the radio knobs in his interior trying to find something to take his mind off things.

"But anyway, what's really important is-"

"Hey, what's this?" Cliff said, cutting her off with the music.

 _Iron birds of fortune_

 _Adrift above the skies_

 _Cloudy revelations_

 _Unseen by naked eyes_

 _Flying tools of torment_

 _Will penetrate the sphere_

 _Erupt the rock of ages_

 _Bringing final fear_

 _Instruments of destruction_

 _Tools of power plays_

 _It's a violent eruption_

 _Existence drips away_

"Wow, this is really something. Mind if we listen to this for a bit?" Cliff asked, not actually wanting a response.

Peridot had her mouth still hanging open when the music started to play, trying to hold on to the words that were on the tip of her tongue. She wasn't used to being cut off like that, but she was fully intent on picking up where she left off after the music was finished.

While Cliff was enjoying the brief reprieve from the information overload he was receiving from his small friend, he knew that it would only be a matter of time before she would start up again.

In the back of his mind, he could only hope that Jazz and the others were just as bored as he was.

* * *

"Look out!" Pearl shouted, pointing out a piece of rubble that had fallen into their path.

Fortunately for both of his passengers, Jazz was quick behind the wheel, effortlessly steering away from the debris.

"Ladies, please. I will handle the driving, you dig?" Jazz remarked.

As the three sped down what was left of the roads of Iacon, Steven and the Gems were able to get their first look at the surface of the planet. And if the state of this one city was anything to go by, it was a wonder how anything was able to carve out a living here.

While the buildings of the area could certainly outclass anything seen on earth, and even some on the Gem homeworld, nearly every single one of them was in a state of disrepair. The entire city looked like a war zone.

"Hot Rod, what's going on here? What happened to this place?" Steven asked.

"I'm little busy right now, so questions are going to have to wait until later." Hot Rod said, "In the meantime, how about you answer a question for me? What you all doing here?"

"Well, the constant question dodging is part of the answer." Steven said, "You didn't exactly leave us with a lot to go on, and there were about to be more of you there. We needed to know what was about to happen."

"So after all that, you're saying you didn't trust us?" Hot Rod asked.

"Look, guys, you and your friends may have been alright, but the others were anything but friendly." Amethyst interjected, "More of those guys coming to Earth is hardly something that the planet needs."

"Look, there's a reason that we couldn't tell you that much." Hot Rod said, trying to keep his attention focused on the road, and trying to answer some of his passenger's questions. "It's called protocol, and we have to follow it. And as you can now see, there's a reason we didn't want you to be part of this."

"He's not wrong." Jazz said, putting in his own thoughts on the matter, "Prime has a very strict policy when it comes to other inhabited planets. The biggest one being, don't involve those who don't need to be."

"Well if you had just told us, we wouldn't have done this in the first place." Pearl chided, "It wouldn't have been that difficult."

"Believe me, we didn't want to involve you at all." Jazz said, "However, with you now being involved, there's no going back from here. We'll try to get you back, but with-"

"Stay focused, Autobots." Prime interrupted, "We are not alone."

Steven was about to ask what he meant, only to be cut off by an explosion that was only feet away from them. Looking out the window, he tried to see where it came. Looking up, he saw what he assumed was the cause flying straight towards them.

The flying vehicle was similar to some of the other Cybertronians, looking similar to that of earth crafts, with a notably otherworldly design to it. Thinking that it was where the explosion came from, Steven suspicions were soon confirmed when several missiles launched from it.

"Unless I missed my guess, those are heat seekers." Jazz said.

"Maintain your heading. I'll handle this." Optimus said, picking up speed.

The gems all watched as Optimus sped ahead of them, anxious about the incoming threat. Ahead, Optimus found a piece of rubble that looked suitable enough for a ramp. Taking the chance, he went to his maximum speed and launched himself into the air, transforming once he was airborne.

His blaster already at the ready, Optimus took several shots, taking out the missiles before they could get any closer. Even with those out of the way, the ship drew closer to Prime. Switching out his blaster, Optimus produced a large ax from his arm.

In a motion that was almost to quick for eyes to see, Optimus spun in mid-air and sliced through the jet, causing it to careen off course and hit the side of a nearby building, exploding on impact. Just before hitting the ground, Optimus transformed back into his vehicle mode and continued driving.

"Woah!' Steven said in awe, "That was so cool"

"I agree that Prime has some moves, but we got a rather big issue now." Jazz said, "Now that they know where he is, we are now going to be the focus of a lot of bad attention."

"How so?" Pearl asked.

Before anyone could answer, several blasts of energy came raining down. The four passengers all looked back, seeing that there was now a group of identical looking ships following them.

"That answer your question?" Jazz asked, starting to steer himself erratically to avoid more shots.

As the three Autobots kept going, they had to continuously dodge and outmaneuver shots that were raining down from above. All the while, their passengers were loudly expressing their displeasure about the situation they were in.

Optimus knew that, if this kept up they would soon be beset upon by too many to effectively avoid them. They needed help, and quick.

"Any Autobots in the immediate area, this is Optimus." Prime said, letting out a distress call, "We are en route to the nerve center and have fallen under heavy enemy fire. Requesting backup."

"This is Jetfire." a new voice said over the radio, "The aerialbots and I have your coordinates, but we're too far out from our position. We'll try to make it, but it will take us some time."

"No need, Jetfire. Prime and the others are coming up to our checkpoint. We'll cover them, and you worry about clearing the skies." a gruff voice said over the radio. A voice that sounded familiar to the Gems.

"Appreciated, Ironhide." Optimus said, "We'll make our way to you. Just ensure that you have the turret defenses ready."

"I think we've heard that voice before." Steven commented.

"If you were in the loading bay, that wouldn't surprise me. Also, sorry in advance." Hot Rod said.

"Sorry? Sorry for wha-" Amethyst tried to say before the backs of the seats pushed forward, pushing them out of viewing point of the windows.

Over with Jazz, he was doing much of the same to Garnet and Pearl. Needless to say, none of them were happy about their current seating arrangement.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Pearl shouted.

"Sorry, but it's best that the others don't see you right now." Jazz told them, "At least not until we get you somewhere safe."

"If it helps, at least you don't have to worry about seeing what's coming." Hot Rod said, knowing his comment was not helpful in the slightest.

"It doesn't." Garnet said, an explosion going off just as she said that.

As the three Autobots continued down the broken streets, continuously dodging fire from above, more of the strange airborne enemies started coming. The fire from above was getting so heavy that outmaneuvering it was becoming nearly impossible. They knew that, if this kept up, they wouldn't last.

Thankfully, the help that the group desperately needed finally arrived.

Several shots came from some ways away, all aimed at the attackers from above. While several of the shots missed, enough hit their mark that the enemies from above broke off and halted their pursuit of Prime and the others, if only temporarily.

From above, three forms came falling from above to join in the small convoy. One was large and red (similar to Optimus), another was of the same size as Jazz and Hot Rod but white, and the final one was small and yellow.

"Backup has arrived." the red one said, joining Optimus at the front, "Sorry that took so long, Prime."

"Think nothing of it, Ironhide." Optimus said, "The only thing that matters now is getting to safety and turning the tide of this attack."

In the back of the convoy, the two other vehicles joined with Jazz and Hot Rod.

"Jazz, what is up with the new paint job you and Hot Rod have?" the yellow one asked.

"No need for jealousy, Bee." Jazz remarked, "We can't all look this good."

"Well let's make sure that your finish doesn't get ruined." the white one said.

"Come on Smokescreen." Hot Rod said, "Do we look anything like Knockout?"

The conversation was interrupted when more fire started to rain down from above once again. The autobots refocused themselves, again trying to dodge everything that came their way.

"We're coming up on the checkpoint." Ironhide said, "Smokescreen and I will take up positions to keep them off your fenders. Bee, Get ahead of us and let them through."

"I'm on it." Bumblebee said, kicking in his speed boosters, getting ahead of everyone.

As Bumblebee went faster, he was met with only minor attacks from the enemies above, as they were more focused on their main target: Optimus.

The checkpoint in question was little more than a set of buildings on the road with an energy barrier blocking the path. On the top of both buildings, there was a defense turret that was taking shots at airborne enemies.

Bee reached the checkpoint, transforming into his robot form. Heading to the energy barrier, he quickly deactivated it. With the path open for the other autobots, Bumblebee brought out his blaster and took up a position to help ward off more incoming enemies, managing to take out a few before they got any closer.

"We'll hang back and keep anything from following you. It should be a straight shot to the nerve center from here." Ironhide told them, "Smokescreen, get in position and take down those fliers."

"Yes, sir." Smokescreen said, heading to help out Bumblebee.

"Stay safe, autobots." Optimus told them, "I will return to join you in the fight soon."

"Just worry about getting to where you need to be, Prime." Ironhide said, "You leave this to us for once."

Quickly changing into his robot form, Ironhide jumped up to the building to join Bumblebee and Smokescreen in the firefight. With them taking care of the threats pursuing them, the remaining three sped through the checkpoint, undeterred by any more above enemies for the time being.

Letting the seats back up, Steven and the Gems all repositioned themselves so that they were sitting properly once again. While they certainly understood the reasoning behind what they did, it wasn't at all comfortable the entire time they were in that awkward position.

"Oh, my neck." Steven groaned.

"You could have given us a little more warning." Amethyst added.

"I did say sorry in advance." Hot Rod pointed out.

"Good news is it won't need to happen again." Jazz said, "We're getting close to where we need to be. Once we're there, we can both starting answering a few questions."

"I'd say that it's long overdue but better late than never." Pearl said.

"Hot Rod, what are these things that are attacking?" Steven asked.

"They used to be us before they were changed." Hot Rod said, hoping that would be enough until they got to the nerve center.

The answer that Steven received was not something that he expected to hear, but it did offer a little insight into what was going on. It at least explained what these things attacking them were, but it also raised a lot of other questions as well.

Yet, he was now a little more appreciative of the fact that they needed to focus on what was happening. In any case, they were about to make their arrival. If nothing else, it would mean that at least some of their questions would be answered.

The base was now coming into sight, and it was just as big as one might expect from something that was to be the central operation point. Several turrets and gun positions were littered across the rooftops, as well as many more soldiers.

Between the building and the road that they were traveling on, there was a large gap that they would have no hopes of crossing on their own.

"We are approaching the main entrance. Extend the bridge." Optimus said over the radio.

At his word, a large metal bridge began to extend from the building. With the gap between the road and the building taken care of, Optimus sped up, crossing the bridge. Once across, he shifted back into his robot form, pulling out his blaster to take several shots at enemies in the sky. While the other autobots were not that far behind him, Optimus wanted to make sure that they would be alright.

As Jazz and Hot Rod got to the bridge, they began to think about what they would need to do once inside. Jazz would have to leave his passengers quickly to get back with Prime. Meanwhile, Hot Rod was wondering how he was going to explain to the troops just what their guests were doing here.

Yet all of that was rendered moot.

A small group of fliers came from above, taking shots at the bridge. While Optimus tried to fend them off, these ones were able to outmaneuver his shots. Several missiles were sent out at the bridge, causing a sizable chunk of it to fall off.

"Uh, Jazz, what are the odds of us making it over the gap?" Hot Rod asked, knowing that they were going too fast to stop.

The two went flying over the gap, hoping to make it to the other side. Yet, just as they were about to land, another one of the ships fired another missile, causing the section of the bridge they were about to land on to fall into the chasm below.

"I'd say nonexistent now." Jazz said.

As the bridge fell before them, Pearl and Steven let out loud screams of fear, thinking they were about to get acquainted with the lower depths of Cybertron. Both Garnet and Amethyst braced themselves but managed to restrain themselves from screaming.

As they fell, both Jazz and Hot Rod took their robot forms, both forcing their passengers out of their seats, and then taking them into their arms.

Seeing his comrades falling, Optimus bolted from his position. Sliding across the metal of the bridge, he stretched his hand out in an attempt to grab one of them before they could fall. Jazz's fingers came within mere inches of Prime's but to no avail.

As the two Autobots fell, Pearl continued with her screaming. Thankfully, it didn't take long for Jazz to act. Shifting his two passengers into one arm, Jazz used his energy grapple to grab onto the wall. Being reeled in towards the wall, Jazz quickly scanned the area to try and find a place to anchor himself.

It only took a cursory glance before he found an opening. Jazz managed to angle himself just enough so that he could swing into the hole he saw. Upon landing, he immediately dropped his two passengers.

"Steven, Amethyst!" both Garnet and Pearl shouted, greatly concerned for the other two.

Thankfully, Jazz was already on it. Immediately going to the edge of the cliff face, his optics saw Hot Rod plummeting to the bottom. Left with no other recourse, Jazz activated his grapple once again, aiming it for Hot Rod.

While this was happening, Hot Rod was desperately trying to both find a way to slow his fall and make sure that his passengers wouldn't get hurt in the process. He darted his head around, trying to find _anything,_ but was greeted with nothing.

As he contemplated whether or not he could survive a fall like this, he felt a something latch onto his back, followed by a sharp tug. As he began to slow down, Hot Rod looked up, seeing that it was Jazz's energy grapple.

Up above, Jazz was straining to not only keep his hold on his friend but to also try and pull him back up. Gravity was still fighting with him, and Hot Rod fell even further down. The best he was doing at the moment was slowing him down.

Off to the side, Pearl and Garnet felt nearly helpless in that they couldn't do anything to help. Jazz was doing his best, but there was no guarantee that things would turn out alright. Just as they were thinking this, Jazz let out one final strained noise before losing his grip entirely.

Down below them, the deceleration of the fall had managed to give Hot Rod some options on what to do next. While he did have the utmost faith in Jazz, he knew that his grapple could only go for so far. With the ground still approaching, Hot Rod quickly came up with a plan.

Shifting both Steven and Amethyst over to one arm, Hot Rod attempted to get himself closer to the wall. When the grapple finally gave way, he lunged at the wall and dug his hand into it. Although it was straining and painful, Hot Rod held on as tight as he could, still trying to slow himself down.

Byt the time they were approaching the bottom, he had decelerated enough that he knew they wouldn't be hurt by the impact. Landing on the ground with a loud thud, Hot Rod let out a sigh of relief along with his two other friends.

"Quick thinking, Hot Rod." Amethyst said in thanks, "I thought we were gonna end up greasy stains on the metal for a second."

"Well, we would have been if it weren't for Jazz." Hot Rod said.

" _Hot Rod, do you read?"_ Jazz call over his radio, " _Roger me, Wilco me. Hello, Hello?"_

"I'm fine Jazz." Hot Rod told his friend, "A little banged up, but we're all okay."

"Oh, thank Primus." Jazz responded, "That gave me a blast to the ticker."

"What about you? Are you and the others okay?" Hot rod asked.

"We're fine up here. The place we landed looks like it could lead down to you. We're gonna try to work our way down. If you can find a way up, we'll meet you along the way." Jazz told him.

"Sounds like a plan. We'll meet you top side." Hot Rod said.

With that taken care of, Jazz looked at the other two.

"They're alright, but we need to make our way down there." Jazz told them, "It's going to take a while. None of us have been down to the lower levels of Iacon in quite some time."

Changing back into his vehicle form, Jazz opened up his doors, inviting the two back inside. Without hesitation, Garnet and Pearl got in.

"Let's not waste any time. I just hope Steven and Amethyst are alright." Pearl remarked.

"They are. Though I can't say how things will go from here." Garnet said.

"No need to worry. Hot Rod may be young, but the kid knows how to handle both himself and others." Jazz said, turning on his lights as he began to drive into the dark catacombs of the underside of the base.

Down below, Hot Rod, Amethyst, and Steven were looking around the bottom of the chasm, trying to figure out how they should proceed.

"So what, have you guys never been down here?" Amethyst asked.

"Not in a long time." Hot Rod told her, "Ever since the attacks started, we've tried to limit the number of places that use."

"Ever since? How long have these been happening?" Amethyst asked

"Look, I'm not really the best one to be-" Hot Rod began, only to be interrupted by Steven.

"What's that noise?" he asked, creeping closer to the inner cavern of the underside of the city.

Listening closely, both Hot Rod and Amethyst heard the noise he was talking about. It sounded like metallic scraping. Something that both Steven and Amethyst thought might have been common. But to Hot Rod, it was a reason for great concern.

Pressing a switch on the side of his head, his optics lit up to illuminate the area. The underside of the city seemed to be horribly neglected and falling apart in some areas. Stepping carefully, Hot Rod looked around to try and find the source of the noise. When he rounded the corner of one of the pillars, he saw what it was.

There, on the wall of the building, there was what looked a broken, rusting, dilapidated Cybertronian, clawing at the wall of the building. A blue, glowing liquid oozing from the wall and from the creature's mouth.

At first, it didn't seem to notice them. That is, until Steven noticed it, and let out a loud gasp. The creature turned around and, upon seeing them, let out a loud howl. Getting off the wall, the thing tried running towards them, stumbling under it's crippled, breaking legs.

Seeing this, Hot Rod wasted no time in lifting his arms up and activating his blasters, taking multiple shots at the horrid creature. It let out a few pained shouts of agony before falling to the ground, unmoving and dead.

Steven and Amethyst were both in shock at what they just saw, but Hot Rod seemed to be not at all deterred as if he had seen this several times over already.

"Any and all autobots receiving this, I have a confirmed report of terrorcon." Hot Rod said over his radio, "I say again, terrorcon _are_ ground side."

"Terrorcon? What is that? Is that what that thing is?" Steven asked.

"Looks like they were chewing on the energy pipes." Hot Rod said, ignoring Steven's question and approaching the pipe. "I should be able to give it a patch job-"

"Hot Rod, why do you keep ignoring me?" Steven shouted, finally losing his patience. "I know that we're not in an ideal situation, but that's all the more reason for us to know. If we're in danger, just tell us."

There was a moment of silence between the three. Both Steven and Amethyst were waiting for a reply, not willing to move until they got some form of answer. They had been strung along for long enough, and now they wanted solid answers.

Hot Rod simply stood they, weighing his options. He knew what his orders were but, in that same regard, this was far from a normal situation. No other species had seen this much. No one else, other than them, had known about the great evil that they were keeping at bay. There was a good reason for that, but how far could that reason be stretched?

Finally coming to a conclusion, Hot Rod figured it would be better to just tell them and deal with the consequences as they came.

"These things, that were once us, are the reason that our planet is so destroyed." Hot Rod explained. "For a long time now, we have been at war with the ultimate incarnation of evil. He's brainwashed our kind and even turned some of them into more like the creature you see here. He's the bringer of chaos. Unicron, the destroyer."


	8. Chapter 7: Devastation

**Chapter 7: Devastation**

"Hold on there, guy." Amethyst said, "You're telling me that all of this is because of a magical horse with a horn on its head?"

Hot Rod said nothing, simply giving Amethyst a bewildered look.

"Didn't you just say that a unicorn is causing all of this?" she asked.

"Wha- No, Unicron." Hot Rod said, correcting her. "Look, I want to tell you more, but we are not in the best position right now. I've got to patch this leak, and then we need to get top side."

"What's the rush?" Amethyst asked, "You already took care of it."

"No. When it comes to Terrorcons, there is never just one."

Just after Hot Rod said that a low, guttural moan echoed through the subsection of the building. The three looked around, trying to determine that source. When nothing could be seen, Hot Rod decided that they needed to get out of there, fast. Tearing off a piece of metal from the wall, he started to work on the leak.

"I don't have anything that can weld it, but a few nails will hold it for now." Hot Rod said, bending the metal to fit around the pipe. "Keep your optics active. The last thing we need is to be surprised again."

* * *

" _I say again, Terrorcon are ground side."_ Jazz heard over his radio.

"Oh, this aint good." Jazz said, "Optimus, did you get all of that?"

"Affirmative, Jazz. I'm sending the report to Blaster now." Optimus said, "How far are you from Hot Rod?"

"He went all the way to the bottom, so it's going to be a minute before I link up with him." Jazz told him.

"Just worry about getting to him." Optimus told him, "The main entrance to the nerve center is no longer a viable route. The north-west entrance is your best chance, but it will require you to go through Decepticon territory."

"First we get word of Terrorcons, and now we get to deal with Decepticons. It is our lucky day, isn't it?" Jazz mused.

"I will send word to their checkpoints and outposts to allow you through." Optimus said, "Ensure that our guests are delivered safely and undetected."

"Understood. Jazz Out."

"There are many questions to be had right now, but I think I'll start with the obvious one." Pearl said, "What exactly is a Terrorcon?"

"Since we're likely to run into them, I guess it's only fair that you know." Jazz said, continuing to drive, "I don't know the whole story behind them, so bare with me. They're the shells of fallen Cybertronians after their sparks have faded. Only to be brought back as something horrible. Mindless beasts that are only looking for a fight."

"That's horrible. How can that happen?" Pearl asked

"As I said, I'm not entirely sure how it happens, but it is connected with what's happening right now. Involving something called dark energon, and a creature as old as time itself" Jazz said, "These attacks have been happening for some time and, even after hearing all the details myself, I still find it hard to believe. To go over it all would require a major history lesson, and we don't have the time."

"He's right. We need to get to the others, and fast." Garnet said, "I have a very strong feeling that things are about to take a turn for the worse. We need to hurry, Jazz."

"Too easy." Jazz replied, picking up speed.

* * *

Hot Rod slammed his fist into the pipe, causing the rusty nail to sink in. The patch job that he had given it was hardly ideal, as it was still dripping, but it was the best he could do with limited time and equipment.

"Once this is over, I'll have to get this properly repaired." Hot Rod said, turning back to his two small friends. "Alright, let's get out of here."

Steven and Amethyst had been keeping watch of things while Hot Rod worked, making sure that no more of the Terrorcons came around. They couldn't see anything, but the deathly silence (which was only interrupted by Hot Rod's hammering the wall) was all too eerie.

At his words, the two turned around, watching him turn back into his vehicle mode. After he opened his doors, the two got into their seats, Hot Rod shutting the doors once they were situated. With the two of them secure, Hot Rod turned his lights on, beginning to drive through the underground.

"It's so dark I can hardly see anything." Hot Rod said.

"It looks like there's a turn coming up ahead." Steven pointed out, "Maybe it will lead out of here."

"Maybe." Hot Rod said, "I've never been down this deep, so getting back up top is going to take a while. I just hope that we don't run into anything along the way."

Hot Rod took the turn that Steven spoke of, and came face to face with a hoard of dozens of the undead nightmares that he hoped not to see. The instant that the light fell on them, they all turned and let out ghastly roars.

"You just had to say something about it, didn't you?" Amethyst said.

Hot Rod, not answering Amethyst, hooked a sharp turn and sped off in the opposite direction from the Terrorcons. He had no idea where he was going, but if it meant it was away from them, he would worry about it after.

"Dude, where are you going?" Amethyst asked.

"I don't know, but I don't have anywhere near enough photon charges for that big of a hoard." Hot Rod explained, "This will be better taken care of on the surface."

Hot Rod was going at the maximum speed that his current form would allow, but the mob behind him were far less mangled and destroyed than the previous one that he had run into. Even with the head start that he had gotten, the Terrorcon were not only able to keep pace with him, but a few were even managing to catch up.

Knowing that turning was just going to slow him down, Hot Rod kept driving forward, thinking of what to do next. Then, far off ahead of him, he saw what looked like an answer to his hopes. It was a light at the back end of the cave they were in.

Thinking that he had found a way out, Hot Rod kept going, some of the hoard drawing ever closer to him. He didn't know what he would do after he got back out into the open, but he might be able to call for backup without worry of the transmission not going through.

Yet, as he got closer, it was becoming clear that the route he was taking was not leading to anything helpful. Rather than a road or ramp leading up, the opening that he saw was nothing more than a hole in the building. Leading down to an even deeper chasm then they were already in.

With the Terrorcons following hot on his bumper, Hot Rod was left with little other choices than to keep driving.

"You guys might want to brace yourselves." Hot Rod warned his passengers, "I'm running out of road, and there's not a strong chance that this next fall will be as graceful."

While this was certainly not the news that Steven and Amethyst wanted to hear, they weren't about to simply sit back and let things happen this time. They may have been caught off guard before, but they now had at least a bit of time to plan things out.

Looking around, Amethyst noticed that there was a pillar dividing the hole into two sections. An idea was quickly formulating in her head. Reaching to her gemstone, she pulled out her whip and went to roll down Hot Rod's window.

"Amethyst, what are you doing?" Hot Rod asked.

"Just keep driving. I've got an idea." she said.

"This is hardly the time for-"

"Hot Rod, we've trusted you up to this point! All I'm asking for is the same thing!" Amethyst interrupted.

While there was a part of him that had his doubts, Amethyst did have a point. They had trusted them with their lives up until now. They had been giving them a lot of faith, so it only made sense that she asked for it back. Besides, it wasn't like they were left with many options.

"Alright." Hot Rod said, "Whatever it is you're going to do, I suggest you do it fast."

"Let's just hope I don't miss." Amethyst said, glad that Hot Rod was willing to listen.

While she wasn't doubting her own abilities, it wasn't like she had done things like this while in a moving vehicle. Her skills were best used on the ground and in fighting, but this wasn't about to deter her. It was either this or become close friends with the planet's surface.

As Hot Rod kept going, he could almost feel the Terrorcons getting closer. Coupled with this, they were only getting closer to the drop-off. He had no idea what Amethyst was planning to do, but she needed to do it fast.

"Anytime you're ready, Amethyst!" he said.

Just as they were about to hit the edge, Amethyst finally acted.

Putting herself part way out the window, she used her whip to grab ahold of the pillar. As Hot Rod rocketed out of the building, the centrifugal force on Amethyst's whip caused them to turn rather suddenly in mid-air. The force was enough to pull her a bit further out, but Steven was there to grab ahold of her.

After doing the violent turn, Hot Rod and his company were flung back into the building, the Terrorcon that were following him all mindlessly charging off the edge. Once she knew they were safe, Amethyst released her whip and fell back into her seat, partially landing on top of Steven in the process.

"Primus beneath us, that was close." Hot Rod said, yet couldn't hold back a slight laugh at how well planned that was. "Haha, nice work there, Amethyst."

"One of my better moves, I must say." Amethyst said, getting herself off of Steven.

"Maybe we can try that turn now." Steven said, dusting himself off.

"Maybe." Hot Rod said, "I hope that we can just get to the surface quick enough to not draw any more attention."

Still driving fast, Hot Rod made his way back to the opening they saw before and took it. Fortunately, it did seem to lead upwards, which did present a glimmer of hope for the trio. Although they didn't know where it would take them, they were at least getting higher up.

* * *

Farther up in the inner workings of the tunnels, Jazz and the other two Gems were trying their best to get down to the other three. Which was far easier said than done, as most of the place looked the same.

"Aside from going down, it feels like we haven't gone anywhere." Pearl said.

"It's been a while since anyone has been down here, but I think we're-… hold up." Jazz said, bringing up a screen on the inside of his cabs dashboard, "I think I've got something."

On the inside, both Pearl and Garnet leaned in to look at what Jazz was showing them. It looked similar to a radar screen, except all of the words were in a text they couldn't read. Looking for what he was talking about, they saw a red blip in the far left corner of the screen.

"You see that? That's Hot Rod's signal." Jazz said, only to have several more pop on the screen not far from Hot Rod, "Oh boy, it looks like he's got company too. No way he can take on all of those things, even with my backup. There's an exit not to far from here, but those things are blocking the way."

"Leave that to me." Garnet said, opening her door and getting on the hood.

"And what exactly is it that you're doing?" Jazz asked, watching Garnet equip her gauntlets.

"Giving us a way out." she said, enlarging her gloves, " Call Hot Rod and tell him to follow you. No matter what, don't slow down."

"Well, if you say you got this, I won't doubt you." Jazz said, revving his engine, "But the instant we get out, or if something goes wrong, get back in. Alright?"

"No problem." Garnet said, putting her fists in front of herself like a battering ram.

* * *

On the lower level, Hot Rod was trying to navigate through the maze that was the unused building. They had managed to go up quite a few floors since losing the Terrorcons, but they had yet to find anything that looked like a way back to the surface.

"Everything looks the same down here." Amethyst said, "How was anyone supposed to get around here when it was active, much less now?"

"Jazz to Hot Rod, do you read me?" all three of them heard over the radio.

"This is Hot Rod, I've got you." he said, "What's your location?"

"Not far from you, only a short drive away. But we got trouble ahead." Jazz warned, "I'm getting a lot of movement up ahead, and none of it looks friendly."

"Scrap." Hot Rod said in frustration, "Any plans?"

"Our friends have one actually." Jazz told them, "Just get yourself as close to the next room as you can without attracting attention. I'll tell you the rest from there."

Not giving any response, Hot Rod killed his lights and began to drive to the room that Jazz had spoken about. Although it was dark to the point of only being able to see the faint outline of everything, by the time that they got to the room in question, it was clear to everyone what was in that room.

The terrorcons gave off a purple glow as they milled around the enclosed space. It was unclear what they were doing, if anything. Yet Hot Rod knew that, if they were found, they would stand little to no chance.

"Jazz, whatever this plan is, I hope that it's good." Hot Rod said quietly, "There are at least three dozen of these things in here."

"Trust me, and just do what I say." Jazz told him, "Once I get in there, get behind us and stay as close as possible. Don't slow down, no matter what."

Steven and Amethyst looked at each other, the unsure looks clear on their face even through the darkness. They'd been in tight pinches before, but they usually just involved themselves and close friends. It wasn't often that they had to put so much faith in others. They had proven to be looking out for them since they initially met, but the vagueness of Jazz's idea was mildly disconcerting.

While Hot Rod was thinking much the same as his passengers, he was nowhere near as worried. He'd known Jazz for some time now, and was aware of the way that he operated. While Jazz did take risks, he was always calm under pressure and reacted well when last minute plans needed to be executed. Though he really couldn't help but wonder just what his plan was.

All three of them got their answer when there was a sudden flash of light from the other side of the room, followed by the loud blaring of a horn. All of the Terrorcons turned to look, just in time for Jazz to come flying in with Garnet on his hood.

With her gauntlets scaled up to such massive proportions, she was easily able to plow through all of the undead Cybertronians, clearing a path behind them.

The instant that he saw the opening, Hot Rod did as he was told and sped toward Jazz. He had to get through a few Terrorcons of his own, but it was significantly fewer thanks to them. Quickly catching up, Hot Rod was tailing Jazz as close as he could, hoping things would work out as planned.

Even with the clearing being made in front of them, there were still a good number of decaying, rusty hands reaching out to try and grab them. Hot Rod knew that this could only be kept up for so long, and he also knew Jazz was aware of this as well. They needed to get out of there and fast.

Thankfully, the ball was in their court this time around.

They were quickly approaching the wall of the building, and the end of the hoard that they were pushing through. Yet, unlike all of the other walls around them, this one had an opening that they could easily get through.

Finally, at the end of the Terrorcon hoard, the two Autobots and their passengers wasted no time in getting themselves out of the building. Going airborne for a short while, they managed to land on the ground adjacent to the building.

It was only after they all had landed that they realized that they managed to make it over a gap, which several of the terrorcons had not noticed and fell into.

Now that they were back out in the daylight and no longer in immediate danger, Garnet phased her gauntlets off and flipped herself back into the Jazz's passenger seat. She couldn't help but smile contentedly to herself, happy in the fact that she was able to help get everyone out of danger.

"Great plan, Jazz." Hot Rod said.

"I can't go taking all the credit." Jazz told him, "If it weren't for our smaller friend here, we may not have gotten out so unscathed."

"Just doing what I can, with what I've got." Garnet told the two.

"Well, what you got, got us out of there." Jazz said, "Unfortunately, there isn't much help you can provide for this next part."

"What do you mean?" Pearl asked.

"Most of the entrances to the nerve center have been cut off, which means that we're going to have to jump through some hoops to get to the nearest safe one." Jazz told them, "And one of them is heading through Decepticon territory."

"They just had to have a base here, didn't they?" Hot Rod complained.

"You know how it works. It's the same reason we have one in Kaon." Jazz told him, "In any case, it's best that no more of them know about our cargo here."

"He's right. The fact that Megatron knows about you is bad enough, but if any of his cronies get wind of this, it's going to be all over. Sorry to say it, but you're going to have to hide." Hot Rod told them.

"That's understandable, especially after what we saw before." Amethyst said, "But let us take care of that this time."

Hot Rod was going to ask her how, but his question was answered when Amethyst began to glow brightly, changing her form to be much smaller. With this new form, she was easily able to fit herself underneath the dash of the front seat.

"You guys are just full of surprises, aren't you?" Hot Rod said.

Seeing what Amethyst had done, Garnet and Pearl did much the same and stowed themselves underneath Jazz's dashboard. Meanwhile, Steven was still small enough to fit himself underneath without doing any shapeshifting.

It wasn't long before the two autobots got within range of the Decepticon checkpoint, and they were made aware of it by a radio transmission.

"This is Barricade of Decepticon checkpoint three." a familiar voice said over the radio, "Care to explain what two Autobots are doing in our sector?"

"Slow your roll there, Barricade." Jazz said to him, "There should have been word that we were coming."

"There was, but nobody said who it would be." The Decepticon said, "And they never mentioned a captain being one of them."

"We can go into that later, seeing as how we have more important things to worry about it." Jazz said, "We got some cargo with us that needs to be delivered as soon as possible. We just need to get through your checkpoint, and we'll be out of your way before you know it."

"While I'd normally be fine with getting Autobots out of our optics, I'm afraid that's going to be rather difficult." Barricade said, "Those Terrorcon that got reported up have decided to make themselves known in my sector. I'm not sure what they did, but our defense systems have shorted out."

"What does that have to do with us?" Hot Rod asked.

"Well, I'm not opening up our gates to let those things in. Not until we have our defense back up at least." Barricade shouted, "So here's the deal; You give us a little cover with holding these things off while we repair the systems, and we'll let you through after."

"Uh, I don't know if you heard what Jazz said, but let me repeat it." Hot Rod said, "We have important cargo, and it can't be damaged. We can't stop."

"Well, then you can find another way there, Auto-brat." Barricade said, "Because I'm not endangering my men for any of you. So you can either help out or get out."

While they weren't speaking to each other, the same thought was going through everyone's head. _What were they going to do?_ Once again, they were short on options, and they had almost no backup this time around.

Fortunately, Jazz was already set with an idea.

"Don't go blowing a gasket on us, Barricade." Jazz warned, "Hows about this? We'll get the attention of the ones hassling you, and lead them away from your outpost. That way, we don't have to stop moving, and the problem gets away from you."

There was a brief pause over the radio. It was clear that the Decepticon was mulling things over, considering his options.

"Alright, I can work with that." Barricade said, "But I'm not opening that gate until those things are off of us."

"Fair enough. Just keep out of the way when they start tailing us. Jazz out."

"Jazz, what are you doing?" Hot Rod asked, "We just got out of a tight spot, and now you want to put us into another?"

"I know it's a risk, but we don't have much other choice." Jazz explained, "Hopefully we won't have to worry for too long. Remember who's supposed to be guarding the border between us and the Cons?"

"When has he ever been willing to help us?" Hot Rod asked.

"I think he'll make an exception this time. Especially considering that he won't have much of a choice." Jazz said.

"What are you guys talking about?" Steven asked, "And who's the captain that guy was talking about?"

"That would be me, little man." Jazz told him, "More on that later because right now we have a show to put on."

The Autobots were quickly approaching the Decepticon checkpoint, and they could see that Barricade had not been lying about their current situation. There were a good number of Terrorcons crawling about, and the cons were not going to last without some help.

"Brace yourselves, guys." Jazz warned their passengers, "This is about to get dicey."

Once again, the Gems found themselves in a position where they could only trust their new friends. While they had been doing that a lot today, they weren't used to having to rely on others this much. What was worse was the fact that they couldn't see what was going on this time.

Meanwhile, Barricade and his Decepticons were doing their best to keep the Terrorcons from overwhelming them. While Barricade was one that preferred close range combat, he was not finding this fight to be to his liking.

"Keep them back, Decepticons!" Barricade barked at his men, "Shouldn't be much longer before our bait gets here!"

While many of the Decepticon soldiers that had worked under him were used to his rigid way of running things, they knew that there was little chance of surviving this. They lost a good number of their own troops already, and things were looking worse by the second.

Thankfully, Barricade was true to his word, and their backup arrived.

Jazz and Hot Rod were speeding straight toward the checkpoint and, just as they got close enough, their vehicle forms both produced a set of weapons on the front of themselves, taking several shots at the mass group of Terrorcons to get their attention.

"Come on you ugly hunks of scrap!" Jazz taunted.

The Terrorcons all hissed, but their attention was pulled away from the Decepticons. Hopping down from the building, they all started to charge toward Jazz and Hot Rod.

"Hows about lowering that barrier, Barricade?" Jazz said to the Con.

While it looked like the Autobots had kept their promise of getting the Terrorcons off of his back, Barricade knew better than to trust things at face value. They could very easily just speed off without doing much else after, but there was little recourse. He was just going to have to go with it and hope the Autobots wouldn't try to pull one over on him and his men.

"Deactivate the barrier!" Barricade ordered.

"But sir-" one of the Vehicons tried to argue.

"Don't make me repeat myself!" he told his underling, pointing his weapon at him.

"Yes sir." the Decepticon said, not putting up any further argument as he lowered the energy barrier.

"Alright kid, let's get these creep's attention and get rolling." Jazz told Hot Rod.

"How about a little slide and dash?" Hot Rod suggested.

Rather than give an answer, Jazz simply sped up to show that he was on board with Hot Rod's idea. Nearly all of the Terrorcons were focused on them, but they wanted to make sure that all of them were in pursuit when they left. While their feelings on the Decepticons were hardly a secret, keeping their word was one of the many things that separated them from the Cons.

Several of the Terrorcons had started to grab at the speeding Autobots, some faster than others. Yet the Autobots did not slow down, instead opting to continue speeding towards them.

Once they were within a decent range, Jazz and Hot Rod sharply turned themselves in opposite directions, sliding side first into the Terrorcon hoard. While it did knock a good number of them down, it wasn't enough to kill any of the undead Cybertronians. It also left their passengers in a rather precarious position, with them trying to fight against the force of the turn.

Regaining control of themselves, the Autobots made their way to the checkpoint and passed through, the Terrorcons now hot on their bumpers. While there were still a few stragglers, the Decepticons were a lot more optimistic about their chances now.

"I think we'll be able to mop up what's left." Barricade said over the radio, "Try not to die while losing them, Autobots. We may need you for bait later."

"Next time, we may not be so generous." Hot Rod said, "Just remember that you owe us, Barricade. Hot Rod out."

"You know that he's never going to honor that, right?" Jazz asked.

"More than likely, but it never hurts to give a reminder." Hot Rod answered.

"Not that this wasn't an amazing feat that you just pulled off, but I have a rather serious question." Pearl said, "What do you intend to do now with those things following us?"

"Yeah, I'm still working on that one." Jazz admitted, "I got one major idea, but a few backups before we get to that."

"Well if it comes to having to use him, let's just hope he doesn't add us to the pile." Hot Rod commented.

"While I don't think he would, I really wouldn't put it past him." Jazz said, leaving the Gems wondering who they were talking about. "Any units in the area, this is Autobot Jazz. We're being pursued by a pack of Terrorcons. Is there anyone out there able to provide support?"

"And would you care to explain what you're doing in our territory, Autobot?" a voice said over the radio. A voice that could only be described as raspy and irritated.

"It's a pretty interesting story, Starscream." Jazz responded, "But the important part involves us getting back to our sector by cutting through yours. We got some of the Terrorcons off you boys, but now they're after us instead. Any chance you can send some assistance our way?"

"How very interesting indeed, captain." Starscream said, "But I'm afraid that will be quite impossible. My air units have their hands full with protecting our own, and we can't spare anyone."

"We ain't asking for much, Scream. Just enough fire power for us to get back into our own turf." Jazz argued.

"No can do Autobots." Starscream responded in a condescending tone, "You should consider yourself lucky to even be allowed access to our territory. We have our own issues, and my mine concerns are the skies, not the ground."

"Useless, overgrown kite!" Hot Rod shouted in frustration, "How many times have we gotten him out of problems? Now he can't even spare one quick run?"

"Can't say that surprises me. Scream has always been looking out for no one but himself." Jazz said, "Looks like we just have to keep moving until we reach the line."

"Let's just hope that our followers don't catch up in the process." Hot Rod said.

The news that they would be receiving no backup until they got back into Autobot territory was news that no one liked to hear. Steven and Amethyst had gotten a first-hand look as to how quick these Terrorcons could be, and they didn't want to get an up-close look at these things again.

Thankfully, the road ahead of them had far more obstacles than there were underground. Being able to weave in and out of fallen rubble and broken bits of road was actually helpful for once. While it may have slowed them down a bit to have to get through it all, it slowed the Terrorcons down even more.

While their drive was not a lengthy one, the constant threat at their back made it feel twice as long. Yet, finally, they were approaching the border of the Autobots and Decepticons. Unlike the other checkpoints of before, this one was not contained by an outpost or road block, and that was due to who was guarding it.

"Grimlock, come in, We got trouble after us, and we need an assist." Jazz radioed, only to receive no answer, "... Grimlock?"

"Who's Grimlock?" Steven asked.

"The one who runs this sector, but I'm not seeing him." Hot Rod said, "I hope he didn't leave his post again."

"After what happened last time, I doubt that." Jazz said, "Yet I can't fight this feeling in my gears that he's not close by."

While this conversation was going on, the road ahead had cleared up considerably. The Terrorcons were now easily able to catch up with the Autobots, and now they were almost directly behind them.

A few at the front of the pack lunged forward, attempting to jump on the two Autobots. But, before they could reach their target, a massive sword came slamming down from above, splitting them in two. The rest of the terrorcons following behind were hit with a shield of equal size, sending them flying back.

Skidding to a halt, Jazz and Hot Rod were able to turn themselves around to see their saviour. The bot in question was easily twice the size of Optimus, carrying sword and shield that were nearly as big as himself.

"Ha, never thought I'd be this happy to see you, you big bozo." Hot Rod told the mountain of an Autobot. A comment that he didn't seem to take well.

"How many times do I gotta say it to ya?" Grimlock seethed.

"Thanks for the help, Grimlock." Jazz said, "We'd have been tore up like tin foil if they caught us."

"Why ya in my sector anyway?" Grimlock asked, not dropping the anger in his voice.

"Didn't have a choice, big guy." Jazz explained, "We were making our way to the nerve center when we got sent down a different route. The only way that was open was this way. Unfortunately, the Decepticons decided to give us a problem to deal with on our way through their territory."

"Now you're putting it on me, right?" Grimlock accused.

"Well, you and your team, but that's beside the point." Hot Rod said, "We got important cargo to deliver, so we have to get moving."

Before Hot Rod could explain any further., the Terrorcon that had been following them had made it known that they were back on their feet, and did not appreciate being sucker punched. Looking over, Grimlock simply let out an angered grunt before turning back to the two.

"Gimme the details later. I got your mess to clean up." Grimlock told them, "Get going. I got this."

Curious as to what was going on, Steven dared to poke his head up from underneath the steering wheel. What he was met with, however, was nothing he could expect. The giant robot that was in front of them slammed his fists to the ground and changed shape. But, rather than a vehicle like every other one he saw, this one turned into a tyrannosaurus. Letting out a breath of fire while it let out a loud roar.

While it was certainly something to see, Steven didn't get much of a chance to look at it, as Hot Rod and Jazz got themselves going again. Yet, as they got moving, the Gems could all feel and hear what sounded like heavy footsteps.

Peeking his head out a little further, this time Steven was met with the sight of more dinosaur robots. A brontosaurus, a triceratops, a stegosaurus, and a pterodactyl. All of them were heading in the direction of the robot T-rex.

"Fight the good fight, fellas!" Jazz called out to them, "I'll be back to join you soon!"

"Alright, I think you guys are safe to come back up." Hot Rod told the Gems.

Shifting back into their normal size, the Gems got themselves situated into their seats once again. Hauling himself up, Steven attempted to look out the back window to try and catch another glimpse of the robots behind them.

"W-... Were those robot dinosaurs?" Steven asked, completely amazed.

"Dinosaures? Is that what those things are called?" Hot Rod asked, "That would explain the new name that they picked for their team than."

"What are you talking about?" Steven asked, "And why was that guy talking like he had trouble speaking?"

"Because he does, or he does now at least." Jazz explained, "A while back, Grimlock and his crew, then known as the 'Lightning Strike Coalition Force', set out to try and hunt down some energon. Unfortunately, what they found instead was a whole lot of trouble. They would up being captured by Decepticons, and they ran some pretty gruesome experiments on them. The results, as you likely saw, have now taken to calling themselves 'Dinobots'."

"Well, that's certainly easier to say." Garnet said, "But what's going on with that one you were talking to? Why was he so angry?"

"Grimlock's always been a hot head." Hot Rod said, "The experiments didn't help, and I think it actually made him worse. Not to mention, all of his functions have been switched to be primarily focused on combat. He was never the brightest bulb, but I'd say he's at about three watts after those conversations… don't tell him I said that."

"Too late, chief." Amethyst teased, "I'm using that for ammo later."

While Hot Rod was hoping that Amethyst wasn't being serious, he remained quiet. They were almost to the entrance of the nerve center. Once in there, he could start worrying about what he was going to do with them.

"Optimus, we're approaching the entrance to the nerve center." Jazz radioed out.

"I read you Jazz. I'm sending a team to meet you and Hot Rod. Our plan is still the same, so get Hot Rod and our guests in here and head back out." Optimus told him.

"Understood, I'll see you there." Jazz said.

It wasn't long before the Autobots and the Gems saw the entrance. As one might expect, the entrance was heavily guarded by both troops and automated defense systems. Yet, unlike the last entrance they saw before, this one wasn't connected to a bridge.

The group was approaching the entrance, thankful that this ordeal would soon be not as hectic. Unfortunately for them, there were some unwanted guests that caught sight of them.

A barrage of missiles and gun fire came raining down from above. Thankfully, Jazz and Hot Rod were able to stop themselves in time, avoiding being torn to shreds. Unfortunately, stopping only left them open for another form of attack.

From above, several of the airborne enemies that had been flying above swooped down, taking on their alternate forms and landing in front of the Autobots. Cutting them off from the path to the entrance.

Steven leaned forward, getting a good look at their attackers. They looked very similar to all the other Cybertronians he had seen thus far, except for one major difference. That being the symbol on the bodies. Up until this point, he had seen only two; One for Autobots, and the other for Decepticons. This one looked vastly different, almost like a demonic robot head with horns.

Hot Rod and Jazz, on the other hand, were more focused on getting themselves away. Shifting into reverse, their tires screeched loudly as they began to drive backwards. Spinning themselves around, they managed to narrowly avoid a few shots that their assailants fired off. As they drove, several more enemies landed around them.

"Optimus, we have a problem!" Jazz said, "We've been cut off by Unciron's goons. Requesting to drop cargo and deal with this."

"Granted, Jazz." Optimus said, "Just ensure that our guests are in a safe place before you proceed. I'm sending Bulkhead and Arcee to provide backup, but more will be on their way soon."

"You heard him, kid." Jazz said to Hot Rod, "No more running. We drop our passengers, then we get in the fight."

"Where should we put them, Jazz?" Hot Rod asked.

Jazz quickly scanned the area, looking for a good place to put the Gems. It would need some place with ample cover, so one of the old building would likely be best. Fortunately enough, there was one with a big enough opening that they could get in and drop their passengers off. The building was rundown and nearly destroyed, but it would work for now.

"There!" Jazz called out, driving towards the building, "Get behind me!"

Hot Rod did as he was told, following close behind Jazz as he drove into the building. The entire time this was happening, they were still being pelted with gunfire from the foes behind and above them.

Once they were a decent ways inside, both Hot Rod and Jazz opened their doors, telling the Gems to get out and get to cover. The Gems did as they requested, and the Autobots changed into the robot forms.

"Lay low here, we have to take care of our unwanted followers." Jazz instructed the four.

"Wait, we could help you guys." Steven offered, "They outnumber you by a lot."

"That is a solid no-go, pal." Jazz said, "Optimus doesn't want any other species to be involved with this war, and he would not take it lightly if he found out that we put you in danger."

"I understand following the orders of your superiors, but there is a time and place for everything." Garnet interjected, "You're grossly outnumbered and, if something happens to you two, we'll stand even less of a chance. Let us help until your backup gets here."

"Like I said, it's not my call. Prime's got the final say, and he told us to keep you out of harm's way. Stay here, and we'll handle it." Jazz than turned to Hot Rod, "You ready to kick some axle, kid?"

"I'll try to leave some for you." Hot Rod said, his voice strong with confidence.

"That's what I like to hear." Jazz said before the two of them took their alternate forms and sped toward the entrance.

There were a few of their pursuers that decided to follow them into the dilapidated building, but they soon regretted it when they saw the two Autobots come charging at them. Hot Rod and Jazz ran headlong into the intruders, forcing them back outside.

After successfully getting outside, the two Autobots took on their robot forms once again, bring out their weapons. They had been in their vehicle forms for long enough, and now it was time to take some action instead of constantly dodge it.

Meanwhile, inside of the building, Steven and the Gems were beside themselves on what to do about their current situation. Yes, Jazz had told them to stay put, but they had already given their protest about doing that.

"We have to go out there and help them." Steven said, attempting to head toward the exit, only to be stopped by Pearl grabbing his arm.

"Steven, if you think for a second that I am going to let you go out there, you clearly don't remember who I am." Pearl told him.

"Oh come on P, you know he's right." Amethyst argued, "Those guys are going to get eaten alive out there if we don't do something."

"Amethyst, you're missing the bigger picture here." Pearl shot back, "We know nothing about this planet, or the things that are attacking. Outside of the little information that's been passed on, we could be walking into something that could have adverse effects on us."

"So what, we just leave them to die?" Amethyst said.

"They are just as capable fighters as us. Do you really have that little faith in them?" Pearl retorted.

"It's not a matter of faith, it's a matter of numbers. Skill doesn't mean anything if you get overwhelmed." Amethyst said, turning to Garnet, "What do you think we should do, Garnet?"

Garnet remained silent for a second, mulling things over. There were so many scenarios going through her head, and very few of them seemed to end well. Not to mention, she could sense something coming. Something bigger than any of them.

"It's unclear as to what's going to happen, but there is one thing that I do know." Garnet said, "They've been risking their lives for us ever since we got here, and they never asked for any of this. I think that it's only fair that we return the favor."

Pearl was given pause, having to rethink everything she just said. In all the excitement, she had forgot about the sheer amount of bravery that those two had shown. Their willingness to protect them, and keep anyone else from trying to harm them was admirable to say the least. In a way, they had a lot in common with them.

"I suppose your right. After everything they've done, it's the least we can do." Pearl said.

Amethyst and Garnet both gave her proud smiles. The three of them had been through a lot before, and they always had a way of coming around when it came to doing the right thing. However, there was one important caveat that Pearl wanted to make.

"But I am not letting- … Steven?" Pearl looked around for the boy, at first not seeing him. Only to notice that he was heading to the exit.

"Oh, for goodness sake." Pearl said, pulling her spear from her gem, and chasing after him. Amethyst and Garnet did much the same, following close behind her.

Steven was running to the entrance, hoping to get there before something major happened. When he finally got back into the light, it looked like his fears were well placed. Hot Rod and Jazz were there, and so were several of those enemy robots.

In place of where Hot Rod's right hand should have been, there was now a blade that he was using. His fighting style was heavily focused on using said blade, but he also wasn't afraid to use his other hand, as well as his legs. While he did occasionally use his blaster, he seemed to be focused on using it as little as possible.

Jazz, on the other hand, didn't appear to have a close range weapon, but he was far more nimble than Hot Rod. He was easily able to dodge attacks and counter them with punches and kicks. Like Hot Rod, he kept the use of his blaster to a minimum, but he did make use of his grapple. He even managed to take down one enemy in the sky by forcing it to the ground and crashing it.

Yet, even with their skills in fighting, they weren't able to dodge everything that was thrown at them. The hits that they did receive were usually minor, but it was starting to add up. It started getting even worse when more came in and decided to use their own blasters.

Hot Rod had just finished with one enemy, running his blade through his chest, when he was very suddenly hit with a missle from an enemy from above. The explosion knocked him off of his feet, causing him to land on his back.

When he landed, he first tried to get himself reoriented to get back up but was stopped when he saw the barrel of a gun in his face.

"Join your false profit with the All Spark." Hot Rod heard the figure say.

In the amount of time that he had been alive, Hot Rod had been through many battles and almost an equal amount of close calls. There had been a few times when he thought it was the end for him, and now was looking to be like it.

He had wondered what he would do in this moment. Would he be too terrified to speak? Would he keep trying to fight to the bitter end? Right now, he could only think of one thing to do.

"The only false prophet is the one you're enslaved to." Hot Rod said.

His enemy didn't bother with a response and instead powered his blaster up. Hot Rod remained stoik, not offering him the satisfaction of begging for his life. Yet, just as the shot was fired from the blaster, something moved in front of him and deflected it.

Looking up, Hot Rod saw that shot had not only been reflected away from him but also had hit his assailant in the spark chamber, causing him to fall backward, lifeless.

Curious as to what happened, he looked down at his own chest to see what did this. The first thing to catch his attention was some that was pink and shell shaped giving off a strange glow. Beneath that there was a familiar person holding it up.

"Steven, what are you doing?" Hot Rod asked, getting himself back up and setting Steven on the ground, "We told you to stay put. And where did you get that thing you're holding?"

"I know what you said, but we couldn't just wait there." Steven asserted, "We can help."

"Kid, that's brave of you." Jazz said from a short ways away, "But you guys really don't know what it is that-"

"Jazz, behind you!" Hot Rod shouted.

Jazz spun himself around, coming face to face with another opponent ready to take a swing at him. Jazz threw his arms up in front of himself, trying to limit the damage of the blow as much as he could, but it never came.

Just as he was about to strike, Unicron's minion felt his leg give out from beneath him, sending a surge of pain through his circuits and causing him to collapse. Catching himself as he fell, he got a look at his attacker. Whatever it was, it was much smaller than him, but he didn't have time to think about it.

The instant he was low enough, he was met with a fist to the face, separating his head part way off of his neck. He collapsed, unmoving as the light in his eyes died.

When Jazz heard his enemy fall to the ground, he dropped his arms to see what happened. Looking down, he was just in time to see Garnet nearly knock the robot's head off. Once she was done, she simply turned to look up to him, giving him a thumbs up with her gauntlet.

"... Alright then." Jazz said, "I guess you guys being able to handle Bruticus should have been a good indication for us. Prime may have my head for this, but I'm willing to take that risk. Just make sure that you all don't take on something you can't handle."

"My thoughts exactly." Pearl said, looking to Steven, "Steven, get inside now."

Steven simply shook his head, having no intention of backing out of this. If they were going to fight, than so was he.

"Steven, I'm being serious." Pearl said, growing impatient, "If I have to tell you one more-"

"Terrorcon!" Hot Rod shouted.

Pearl turned around, noticing the zombified Cybertronian right behind her. Pearl readied herself to strike, but something beat her to it.

A blue streak came flying in from her left side, along with a distinctly female grunt to accompany it. The Terrorcon was sent stumbling, but the figure kept at it, landing several more hits before finally ending the creatures suffering by kicking it's head in.

"Good to see you, Arcee." Hot Rod said.

The Autobot in question turned to nod toward her comrade. Aside from being notably shorter than many of the other Cybertronian, she was also very different in appearance as well. Almost having a female figure not that different from the gems themself.

Just as several more of the flying enemies came down, another Autobot decided to make his presence known by plowing into them. This one was larger, but not as big as Optimus or Grimlock. He was green and had a lot of mass to him.

"Someone call for a wrecking crew?" he asked, slamming his fists together.

"Late as always, Bulkhead." Jazz commented.

"You know me, I always like to make my entrance big." Bulkhead said, shifting his right hand into a large metal ball.

Arcee couldn't help but roll her optics at Bulkhead's remark. Yet her attention was quickly pulled away when she looked down at the small being in front of her. She let out a sigh, not wanting to have to deal with something like this.

"Look, I don't who or what you are," Arcee started, "but a warzone is no place for-"

Arcee stopped herself from speaking when Pearl suddenly reared her spear back like a javelin. Before anything could be said, Pearl threw her spear, only missing Arcee's head by a few inches. While Arcee was wondering what was going on, the ghastly groan from behind her made it evident as to what happened.

Turning herself around, Arcee saw another Terrorcon, but with Pearl's spear in its chest. Letting out one final groan, it fell to its knees before falling face forward onto the ground, sending the spear all the way through and out its back.

Walking up to the creature, Pearl pulled the spear from it without a second thought.

"I can handle myself, thank you." Pearl said to Arcee.

Arcee merely looked down with surprise and mild amusement. She hadn't personally met that many aliens before and, when she did, she was always instructed to leave them alone or defend them. It wasn't often that she was fighting with them.

"Optimus told us that you had some cargo, but he never said anything about it knowing how to fight." Bulkhead said.

"Believe me, it was just as much of a shock to us on that planet." Jazz told him.

Another group of the flyers came down, but Bulkhead was more than ready to take care of them. While some of them went after the others of the group, one was bold enough to try and attack Bulkhead. Yet, unlike some of the other attacks on his friends, he was ready.

His enemy charged straight for him but was tripped up when something wrapped itself around his leg. Bulkhead's enemy lurched forward, tripping straight into him. Taking this opportunity, Bulkhead used his club fist to land a deadly blow to his face.

With his foe dealt with, Bulkhead looked down to see what it was that got him the opportunity. It looked to be some sort of whip, which was being held by one of the smaller members of the little group Jazz and Hot Rod had.

"Thanks for the assist." Bulkhead said.

"No problem, big guy." Amethyst said.

Several more swarms of Terrorcon and flying enemies came, but the group of eight were prepared.

Even with the increased numbers that were on them, and the added undead attacking, the Autobots and Gems were holding their ground against the onslaught. While the Autobots were handling a majority of the fighting, the Gems were not only helping them, but were also able to handle some of the hoard themselves.

Just as Garnet put another Terrorcon out of action, she had a sudden vision pass through her head. She didn't know what it was that was coming, but it was far bigger than anything else that they were currently dealing with… and it was coming fast.

"Get down!" Garnet yelled to Jazz, "Get everyone down on the ground now!"

Jazz was unsure of what she meant, but an unsettling noise from not far off made him believe that she was onto something.

"Down, everyone get down!" Jazz shouted out, to which the group obeyd.

While not everyone was sure what was happening, they knew well enough to listen when Jazz gave an order. The Autobots all fell to the ground, each one covering one of the Gems as they did so. And they couldn't have done it any sooner.

Just as Steven and Hot Rod hit the steel ground, a giant mass came flying through the air, hitting the building that they were in not too long ago. The eight all stood up, watching the building crumble from the impact.

"I guess it's a good thing you guys weren't in there." Hot Rod said, "But what was that?"

An angry groan came from the rubble. One that sounded familiar to all of them. A giant hand came out from the dust, and a familiar face pulled himself out of the collapsed building.

"Bruticus?" Arcee said, "What's going on?"

Bruticus simply pointed in the direction that he came flying from. Everyone turned to see what he was pointing at, and their eyes went wide.

Through the fog of war came a being that was just as big as Bruticus himself. The light green shading that he had certainly made him stand out, along with the fact that he too looked as though he was assembled from several different bodies. Just as he came into full view, he stopped and looked down at his new foes. His eyes having a sickly purple glow to them.

"Devastator." Hot Rod said.


End file.
